


That Butler, Silver Scales

by MigotoNami



Category: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Genre: Attempted Murder, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, M/M, Merman Trafficking, Merman/Human, Mermen, Revised Version, Violence, Whaling, male/male relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-11
Updated: 2016-09-21
Packaged: 2018-07-23 00:19:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 21,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7459222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MigotoNami/pseuds/MigotoNami
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ciel Phantomhive was just like any other 19-year-old trying to make a living out on the sea. But something has been bothering him lately. There's something in the water, and it keeps plaguing him. Just what is this sea creature? And what does it want? SebastianxCiel/AU Story/Rated M *Revised*</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Catch

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Black Butler belongs to Yana Toboso.
> 
> Songs Listened To When Writing: Virginia Company from Pocahontas, The Steamboat Willie Medley, Gypsies Tramps and Thieves by Cher, *Foxhunter by Celtic Woman(Ciel's song)*
> 
> P.S. I do not support whaling.
> 
> Fun Fact: This ENTIRE fic was inspired by “Virgina Company” from Pocahontas.

The wind was crisp and cool as it hit the teenager's face, whipping his slate grey hair around and causing the ends to tickle his face and ears. Ciel placed his foot up onto the deck's side, resting his arm upon his raised knee and stared down at the dark blue waters below. He could vaguely hear Finny humming a happy tune as the carefree teen swabbed the deck, the clamor of the eating hall below providing a strident crescendo in the background.

The 19-year-old chose not to take part in the drunken mess downstairs. Instead, Ciel sighed and looked off into the distance to see nothing but constant clear waters, their waves lapping at the tired wood of their ship like persistent, hungry predators. In the quiet still he allowed his mind to drift off into, the teen vaguely wondered how his mother and father were doing without him. Continuous letters had passed between the three of them in the two years that he had been off at sea, a reminder that he always had something to return to should he feel the need. 

His family led modest lives back home. Food and a comforted shelter had never been an issue for them, and Ciel never once thought it as a horrid lifestyle. But he always wanted, for as long as he could remember, to explore all this world had to offer. So when the chance to travel the seas came, he immediately took it, even though the job only called for a deck-hand. This fact didn't matter much to him though, because the offer came with one thing: opportunity. Any dock they entered could be his escape. Ciel could make a life for himself wherever he wanted, whenever he wanted. The freedom was addicting, like the rich texture of dark chocolate, just begging for him to sink his teeth into. The bar of candy, however, remained untouched for now, as he had yet to find his ideal escape bridge just yet.

The ship that would eventually take him there was called the Biàntài Hǎidào, one of the best whaling ships in the world. The ship was medium-sized, allowing for good speed and versatility, with a specific crew to handle every aspect of the whaling process. First of all, there was the navigator, Claude. He steered the ship and could spot a whale from remarkable distances that no one else could see. Next, there were the people who went out onto the water and harpooned the whales: Mey-Rin, Agni, Ash, Undertaker and Grell. Usually on whaling ships there was a bigger crew to harpoon the whales, seeing as it could get dangerous, but these five always got the job done without getting hurt. Their skill was that impeccable. 

Then, there were the people who cooked the everyone's meals and also processed, stored and preserved the whale: Bard, Hannah and Tanaka. Their job was messy and Ciel didn't envy them, although he did wonder why Tanaka barely helped out and just sipped his tea most of the time. Next, there was William. He sold their goods at the port and he was damn good at making money. His way of talking to people was strictly professional and polite, but all the while still managed to trick them into foolish deals. 

Lastly, there were those who cleaned up the mess around the ship: Ciel and Finny. Their hub wasn't so big as to require two people to swab it all the time, so he and Finny traded off. Finny, who was forever addicted to sunshine, cleaned up during the day while Ciel took the night shift when everyone was asleep. It was a simple system, but it worked out perfectly for the both of them.

The captain was a person that Ciel really didn't care for. Captain Lau was nice enough, but was certainly one weird individual. He would pop in on the crew at the most random of times and would only give out orders when absolutely necessary. Mostly he spent all this time just talking with William and the firstmate in the captain's quarters. He was ever an odd individual, but was harmless enough, it seemed.

Right now, the ship was sailing out to sea again after having just sold a catch. The money weighed heavy in Ciel's pocket against his leg as he reminded himself, once again, that he had to stash that away soon, lest he forget. He opted to do this later though, as he inhaled the clean salted air slowly, a contented sigh leaving his lips. It was so nice to have unhindered breathing. He had almost forgotten what it was like during the entire time that horrid smelling carcass was aboard their ship. God, did those things smell after a while...

All of a sudden Ciel was ripped from his thoughts when he heard something hit the water. His blue eyes hardened as he realized that splash had a very familiar sound to it. The teen looked over the edge, not the least bit surprised to catch a glimpse of a silver shimmering tail disappearing below the water. 

'There you are again.' He thought to himself, watching the creature vanish beneath the waves. That same splash had plagued him for nearly a month now, teasing him relentlessly only to leave him unsatisfied as he could only catch a brief glance of that tail whenever he tried to investigate. After all this time, he still couldn't figure out what that creature was, and it bothered him endlessly.

When he couldn't find anything else, the teen frowned and took off his eye-patch, using both of his cerulean eyes to scan the water's surface. There was nothing wrong the eye he hid underneath the patch, truth be told. The black patch had been a gag gift from his father when the teen had taken the sea-bound job offer. In spite, he had worn it only to mess with his father, but it had somehow just stuck with him ever since.

''...What are you? A dolphin?'' The teen asked out loud, looking down at the murky depths below as if he could find the answer only if he stared long enough.

''Dolphin?'' Ciel blinked as Finny came to stand next to him and stare down at the water as well. ''Was that what that splash was?''

''I don't know, I couldn't see.'' Ciel frowned and the two of them searched the water's surface for a few moments before someone shouted at them.

''Hey, you two! Stop leanin' over the railin' like that. You're gonna go overboard and I'm not goin' in after ya.'' Bard scolded as he made walked up the steps from the dining hall below deck.

''Oh, oops! Sorry, Bard!'' Finny said, scratching the back of his neck sheepishly as he turned to get to work again. Ciel moved back as well after stealing a final glance at the water. The blue-eyed boy silently tied his eye-patch back on while tuning out Bard's scolding. Honestly, the cook was good guy and all, but his constant brotherly over-protectiveness was irritating at best. Ciel found he couldn't even listen to the whole lecture before he just waved the cook off and walked away, ignoring the offended shouting that he left behind.

By now, people were starting to come back up from the dining hall and Ciel sighed as he heard Grell's flirtatious comments toward William. He managed to skirt past the doorway to the eating hall before the two of them walked on deck, not at all willing to see the shameless attempts at trying to steal a kiss from the businessman. Ciel nearly shuddered at the thought.

''Hey, where are you going so fast, little boy?'' Ciel frowned as the large unmistakable black figure of Undertaker stood in his path suddenly.

''Do you honestly have to ask?'' Ciel questioned, sighing and bringing a hand to his head as he heard a smooching sound and then the loud smack of Grell getting punched in the face.

''Hee hee hee I suppose not.'' The Undertaker cackled and peeked around the corner to watch the quarreling couple, giggling all the while. Ciel looked at him silently, his sapphire eyes calculating. He could never figure the old man out. All he seemed to want to do was just laugh all the time. Besides that, no one knew a thing about him, not even his real name, only his nickname. But the white-haired male was harmless, so no one questioned his odd quirks.

While the Undertaker was distracted, Ciel turned around and headed to the back of the ship, nodding to Claude and Ash as they walked past him. The pair barely acknowledged him, too caught up in their conversation about which part of the sea they should go next.

At the back of the ship, Ciel wasn't surprised when he found Hannah, Meyrin and Tanaka all sitting together. The girls usually stayed to themselves here, preferring the slight privacy it offered. The other crew members rarely came to the stern as there was nothing of interest here. There were only barrels of cargo and other miscellaneous items including a large fish tank. Tanaka usually could be found on different parts of the ship, so he came back here occasionally. Though oddly enough, nobody ever saw him get up and switch spots.

''Oh, Ciel!'' Meyrin greeted and waved him over as soon as she saw him. Hannah silently turned around and stared at him, causing Ciel's flesh to acquire goosebumps as he came to sit down with them. Hannah rarely ever spoke to him, just stared, but she never failed to keep him on edge in her presence.

''You barely touched your food at dinner.'' Meyrin said, frowning as Ciel sat down on one of the high barrels next to her.. ''Is everything alright? You've been acting weird lately, yes you have.'' She asked, concerned, as Tanaka concurred with his usual santa impression.

''Yes. I just wasn't hungry, that's all.'' Ciel said and leaned back against the barrels, looking out over the railing to see the waves rolling behind them. Meyrin silently decided to let the topic go for now and the girls picked up their conversation again as the teen drifted off, thinking about that mysterious silver colored tail.

 

Eventually, Ciel retired for the rest of the day, waking up around ten in the evening. The blue-eyed teen stretched his arms above his head as he made his way on deck. He didn't bother to grab a coat on his way, however, as the night air here was very warm. Claude must have decided to steer them towards the tropical oceans in search of sperm whales this time.

Speaking of Claude, he, William and Ash were all sitting at a table near the right side of the bow, playing cards and smoking. Well, Ash and Claude were smoking. William was apparently too fancy for such things.

The teen silently walked past them to reach his work tools but stopped when he heard William call out to him, ''Phantomhive. Come here a moment.''

The teen couldn't help but sigh as he turned around and made his way over. He'd rather not deal with these three. Talking to them was always an endevour, as if talking to a brick wall, only worse. At least brick walls never stared at him like he was nothing but a small piece of filth on one of their shoes.

''Yes?'' He asked, coming to stand in front of the table the three were seated at.

''It has come to my attention that you did not do a thorough job last night and that Finnian actually had to pick up your slack.'' William got straight to the point, putting down cards simultaneously with Claude and Ash on middle of the table. His gaze never bothered to look at the teen.

''Oh?'' Ciel asked, lifting an eyebrow and unable to keep the smug lilt of cheeky defiance from his tone, unimpressed with the elder man's rude behavior.

''Yes, and if it happens again, I will dock your pay.'' The slight irritated twitch of William's eye for Ciel's tone didn't go unnoticed.

''See now, you don't have to be so cruel.'' Ash said as he gathered the cards on the table into his deck. ''He's just a boy and people make mistakes.'' Ciel frowned at the insult to his pride for the age dismissing comment but otherwise was surprised that Ash was defending him at all.

''Mistakes must be reprimanded.'' William countered, flipping a card again. ''You know this very well, Ash.''

''You just won't let that go will you?'' Ash chuckled and shrugged. ''You let one whale go by accident and you're branded for life.''

''Yes. That whale cost us a fortune.'' William pushed up his glasses and glared at the white-haired male.

''War.'' Claude said suddenly as the same number card appeared on the table and everyone started laying down three cards to duel. 

''Anyway, Phantomhive.'' William said as Claude won the duel, taking everyone's cards. ''I expect you to do your job tonight, thoroughly.''

''Of course.'' Ciel said and returned to his duties, feeling ashamed that he had let his mind slip so much last night by accident. Even more so about the fact that he didn't even realize it until just now. It was all that stupid sea creature's fault. If it would just come up out of the water and show itself, then Ciel surely wouldn't be so obsessed with it.

With a little more force than necessary, Ciel closed the door to the broom closet and decided to start with the back of the ship. He didn't want to be near those three right now, not after that embarrassing lecture.

''Ciel!'' The teenager frowned and stopped when he heard a door close and footsteps approach him from behind. ''There you are. I have been meaning to speak with you.''

The blue-eyed boy turned around when he realized that it was only Agni. He had expected it to be William coming to scold him again. ''Speak with me?''

The teenager set down his bucket, deciding to start swabbing here so that he could still talk to Agni while working. ''Yes.'' The Indian nodded. ''Meyrin told me that you didn't eat dinner.''

''Now that is an exaggeration.'' Ciel said, swabbing the area with practiced ease. ''I did eat, just not very much.''

''Precisely.'' Agni implored, standing in front of Ciel's mop, causing the boy to frown. ''You were distracted by something today, just like all the other days for a long while now.''

''So?'' 

''So I want to know what it is and so does everyone else. It is not like you to be so distracted.'' Ciel could see that Agni was only concerned and wanted to help, but Ciel didn't need his help, nor anyone elses for that matter. He was perfectly fine.

''It is nothing, Agni.'' Ciel said and walked off to continue working. The slight burn he felt from Agni's concerned gaze watching him was easily brushed off. They all wanted him to open, but he never understood why. It wasn't like any of them were his friends. He didn't need to be close them. He didn't need to open up to them. It would be better for everyone this way, since he had never planned to stay long in the first place.

 

It was around eleven when Ciel was finally left alone and everyone was sleeping below deck. But it unfortunately took another hour of his alone time for him to actually finish his job. Now, with nothing left, the teen went to his room and brought a case up to the bow of the ship. One would think that since Ciel was done mopping that he would go back to bed, but no. His other duty was to stay up til at least three a.m. and then wake up a crew member so that someone was watching over and steering the ship at all times. Ciel himself could steer the ship in case of an emergency, but that usually never happened. Claude, for the most part, kept the ship in a path that was void of any danger.

The blue-eyed boy set the case on the table and opened it, revealing the violin within. He usually didn't play at night, because he might wake someone up, but he did play it now and again when he felt that he might fall asleep if he didn't do something to keep himself awake, like tonight, when the small sounds of calm waters slapping against the ship was not enough to keep him up.

Placing the instrument at his neck, Ciel sighed at the familiar weight on his shoulder. He strung his bow across the strings, playing a tune from memory, one that his mother had taught him. It started out slow, but progressively grew in speed, working his fingers rhythmically to the lilts and jigs of the Irish tune. As he played, Ciel could faintly hear splashing from the water, but chose to sternly ignore it.

Partway through the melody, the teen frowned and stopped when he hit a wrong note, looking at the strings to try and remember how a certain part went. Everything was quiet as he thought, the splashing having stopped. A few moments later he picked it up again and so did the splashing. Ciel's eyebrow rose at this and he experimentally stopped playing. In response the noise stopped. Now he was really intrigued.

He tried one more time and the same response was found, causing a cheeky smirk to come over Ciel's lips as a smirk found it's way to his lips. As quietly as possible, he went over to the side of the ship where he heard the noise and looked down. The water moved in a strange way before settling, signaling that whatever was there retreated down below. The teenager slithered back to the stairs that led to the steering wheel of the ship quietly, carrying his violin with him. There was a crank up there that controlled a large net used to catch fish in the meantime when the ship was looking for whales.

Ciel grunted quietly as he turned the crank to position the net where he wanted quickly before taking up his violin again. His legs shook as he kept his foot lightly on the latch that dropped the net, keeping his eyes on that one spot where the rustling water had been. 

Normally this net was used to just drop in the water and open like a butterfly net to catch stray fish as they sailed, but Ciel figured that it might work in this situation and perhaps the sea creature would get tangled up in it somehow. He severely hoped that it would. He had tried countless times to catch this thing, and had failed every time. Perhaps now, with his violin, he could get it to stay in one spot long enough to catch it. 

As he expected, he saw the water rustle in that same spot, but he waited just a little bit longer, until his sapphire gaze caught silver scales. The moment Ciel saw it, he hit the latch with his foot, releasing the net on the water below. 

Once Ciel saw the net wiggle, the teen wasted no time in putting his violin down and cranking the net back up again. He didn't look to see if he had actually caught anything yet, focused on moving the net onto the deck so that if he really did catch something, than it would just fall onto the deck if it managed to break free.

All the while, his mind was racing as he moved the net, adrenaline and excitement coursing through his veins. 'I bet it's just a dumb dolphin.' Ciel thought as he slowly stopped the crank. 'Or it could be a shark, for that matter.' Well, whatever he was expecting to find, Ciel sure wasn't anticipating to encounter widened wine-red eyes staring back at him in shock.

Ciel couldn't believe what he was seeing. His jaw dropped in shock before he could stop it as he stared at the creature before him, time at a stand still as sapphire and ruby gazes clashed.

He’d heard stories of such creatures from the drunken sailors that returned from god awful long journeys from the sea. But of course no one ever believed them: It was just a silly tale. But now, here he was, staring one straight in the face. A real…life…”Merman…” The word left his lips in an amazed whisper, time at a stand still as sapphire and ruby gazes clashed in stunned silence.

 

~Random Short~

Ciel sighed, bored, as he stared out at the vast ocean in front of him, leaning against the ship's railing. With each rock of the ship he could feel his body shifting to get closer and closer to the edge, but he couldn't fathom to care whether it dumped him into the ocean right now. At least it would be more exciting than listening to Grell's endless cooing at William.

“Ciel~!” The teen frowned as a voice whispered in his ear all of a sudden in a jamaican accent. “What are you doing?” The teen scrambled back as a live crab suddenly appeared in front of his face. The crustacean wiggled, it's pincers held together with rubber bands and Bard held it up in front of the teen. “Up on this ship is your home~!”

“What are you doing?” The teenager asked, voice irritated as he held a hand to his startled heart.

“Ciel, listen to me. The ocean world, it's a mess~!” Bard continued to sing to him, not at all bothered by the deckhand's murderous expression as he made the crab dance a bit in his grasp.

“Stop it right now.” The Phantomhive hissed as he backed up some, only to find himself backed up against the Undertaker.

“Life up on this ship is better than anything they got down there!” Ciel actually let out a manly squeak as the Undertaker suddenly picked him up into his arms from behind. The weird man then decided to spin the teen around as he and Bard started to sing. “The seaweed is always greener~!”

They unfortunately didn't have get to finish their song as the teen managed to escape from the Undertaker and push the two of them overboard, causing Bard to squeal in a girlish manner and the Undertaker to laugh hysterically.

“Idiots.”


	2. The Gaze

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Black Butler belongs to Yana Toboso.
> 
> Songs Listened To When Writing: Lights by Ellie Goulding, Omen III by Magic Affair
> 
> Fun Fact: This ENTIRE fic was inspired by the song 'Virginia Company' from the movie, Pocahontas.

Ciel could only stare in silence, mouth dry and agape. His hands shook with unbridled shock as the merman just continued to stare at him with an unreadable expression. The teen felt his legs move without his consent down the stairs and ever closer to the mystical being in the net. It was like there was some unknown force drawing him forward as the two of them continued their staring exchange.

Ciel had managed to get only a few feet from the net before the spell was broken by the sound of heavy footsteps making their way upstairs. ''Ciel? Why are you making so much noise, bud?'' Bard asked as he came up on deck, yawning rubbing his eye irritably. 

A stunned silence suddenly fell over the chef like a cloud of cool water as he laid his gaze upon the merman. The group was enveloped in the awkward quiet then as Ciel looked lost as to explain what had happened. All of a sudden, Bard let out a high-pitched girly squeal when the merman turned his judging wine-red gaze on the chef. The burly man had scampered over to Ciel before the teenager could blink.

Ciel wheezed when Bard forced all the air out of his lungs as the chef enveloped him in a bone crushing, overprotective hug. ''Bard, let go!'' He glared at the man and pushed at Bard's forearms, trying to break free.

''Wh...What is that thing?! When did it get here!? Don't ya' know the stories? It'll cast a spell on us and kill us all!'' Bard said hastily, moving shaking the teen in hysteria. He had heard the myths and legends about things on the sea. Mermaids/men were a hot topic to talk about among sailors, after all. And while he fully knew that half that spewed garbage was probably made up, he couldn't help believing it anyway because he had always been a very superstitious man...and a gullible one too. ''It'll lure our ship inta' the rocks and then feast on our innards!'' Bard cried, shaking and sobbing as he abruptly crushed Ciel against his chest, the latter having a bored look upon his face.

''He has a gender.'' Ciel said in a monotone voice.

''You don't know that!'' The chef answered then started sputtering and took a step back with Ciel as the merman twisted, grabbed onto the ropes with his hands and gingerly lowered himself onto the deck. The creature in question had his eyes fixated on Ciel with an amused smirk on his face, making the teenager shiver slightly.

''What what WHAT is going on up here?'' Another voice yelled from the entrance to the deck as Grell stormed his way upstairs, wearing a sexy red silk nightgown and curlers containing his deep red tresses. ''Oh!'' The whaler threw his hands together and swooned when he saw what lay on the deck, hearts a flutter in his gaze. ''And who is this unexpected beefcake?''

Both Bard and Ciel had matching looks of disgust on their faces as they watched Grell let down his now curled tresses and practically run at the merman to glomp him. ''Ooo! Hold me, my scrumptious man-candy!~'' The red head didn't even get close to the sea creature as the merman abruptly rolled out of the way of the oncoming whaler, causing Grell to slip on the watered wood underneath him and crash against some barrels on the other side of the deck. Surprisingly enough though, Grell seemed to like it. “Ooo~! Playing hard to get aren't we?”

It was then that William decided to show his face, coming up onto the deck in his blue and white striped pajamas and angrily pushing his glasses up higher onto his nose.

''What in the blazes is going on up-?'' The brunette stopped mid-sentence at the scene before him. Bard was hugging Ciel to him and sobbing uncontrollably, shouting out lines like, 'He's making it mad! It's gonna kill us now!' as the teenager in his arms remained expressionless. Meanwhile, Grell was trying to glomp some fish-man and kept getting smacked in the face with its silver tail.

This was...not what William expected to find when he came up here.

The business man's eyes met with the merman for a moment and William felt himself begin to shake. His eyes widened as he stared, just thinking about...all the money to be had off of this creature. At that moment, William didn't care why or how he got on deck, just that this merman was going to make everybody on this ship stinking rich! He could just see the possibilities now. William's hand shook as he held onto the side of his glasses, causing them to shake as well as dollar bills flashed in his eyes.

Meanwhile, Ciel was growing increasingly embarrassed by the fact that he knew these people and sighed as he patted Bard's arm, wanting desperately to be let go right about now...

 

After William came on board, everything seemed to blur together in a jumble. Eventually, the entire crew was on deck to make a disorderly a circle around the mer-creature. Grell lay comatose from too many hits to the face while Hannah, Meyrin, and Agni had held down and completely immobilized the merman. Throughout all this, the sea creature said nothing, only stared at them all with a poorly guarded curiosity.

Once the merman was restrained, William had been the only one of them to take the initiative to the captain's quarters. Ciel could hear his frantic knocking against the captain's door from where he still lay ensnared in Bard's overprotective embrace, squished uncomfortably close to Finny, who had somehow also got snagged as well. The cook was sobbing comically now and saying over and over again, ''It's alright guys! I'll protect ya!'', even though the danger was handled.

''We are fine.'' Ciel finally said, a clearly annoyed jilt to his voice. ''Let go, would you?''

''Don't you panic Ciel! I said I would protect ya!''

Ciel groaned and harshly rubbed at the skin around his temples, feeling the beginnings of a headache coming on. Everyone suddenly became quiet and the teenager looked up at the Captain's door when William abruptly called for silence.

The sound of shuffling could be heard from inside as William impatiently knocked again. ''Captain! Your presence is required on deck.'' The business man pushed up his glasses and waited as he heard a voice coming from the room. It's tone was teasing, a serpentine type of mischief threading it's core.

''The ultimate symbol of misfortune and greed. For anyone trying to capture the mystical creature would surely end up in Davy Jones' locker. But then again, what sailor wouldn't want to pursue such an alluring prize, even knowing all that awaits him is total destruction? Tis truly a devil's game we are playing.''

William could barely contain his shock as he heard this and took a step back as the door handle turned and started to slowly open. ''So you already know what we found?''

''Oh? So you found something have you?'' A chinese man with brown hair and squinting eyes opened the door, a curious look on his face. He placed his right index finger up to his lip in thought as his other hand rested on his bare hip. The only article the man was covered him was a black thong with which he apparently held no shame in revealing. ''Oh my. Well what is it then?''

''Captain Lau!'' William shouted, immediately covering his eyes at the captain's indecent state of dress. ''Please put on some clothes at once!''

''But why? I was only reading Ran-Mao the tale of The Little Mermaid.'' The chinese captain held up a copy of said book. ''Isn't that right, Ran-Mao?'' His firstmate walked up behind him then, wearing Lau's captain's hat and coat, which sagged down on her petite form and barely covered her breasts.

''Seaweed.''

William sighed and held up his hand, pinching the bridge of his nose. He was quite curious to figure out exactly what they had been doing, but then again, he'd rather not know. ''Just...put some pants on and come down on deck, if you will.''

''Of course. I'll report on deck in a moment.'' Lau laughed and thrust his hips forward when he said the word 'deck' and William immediately felt that he didn't need to see that...

 

It took only a few minutes before Lau and Ran-Mao were both on deck, staring at the merman with quiet, puzzled features. ''So...what is it?'' Lau finally ventured to ask after the silence engulfed them all for far too long.

''It's a bloody merman!'' Bard shrieked, squeezing Ciel and Finny to him painfully, still keeping a safe distance from the sea creature. Finny seemed unaffected by the man's strong grip but Ciel felt like there was a ton of bricks on his chest. The eye-patch wearing boy coughed and slapped the man's arm in response, but Bard refused to budge.

''And it's quite squishy too!~'' Undertaker cooed as he poked the sea creature's cheek and then retreated his fingers when it snapped angered red eyes at him.

''And not to mention beautiful! Oh just let me at him!~'' The newly awoken Grell preened from off to the side, where he was held back because of Claude's tight hold on his long red tresses. ''I'd be his little cuddlefish any day!''

''Oh...'' Lau finally piped up, looking over the catch on deck. ''So.... what do you want me to do about it?''

''Captain Lau.'' A large red vein popped on William's head and he stepped forward towards the chinese man. ''This...creature could potentially make us more money than any of us has ever seen in our lives.'' A look overcome with greed overcame his eyes as he gazed at the creature. “Do you not see the possibilities to be had?”

''Ah...'' Was all the captain said in response, starting to see why William was in such a fuss about this.

''Yes. Now I suggest we...''

Ciel drowned out the business-talk that William proclaimed to the boss, not caring about the outrageous numbers thrown around and calculations to be made. He looked up at Bard when the cook's arms grew lax, his mouth practically watering over the amount of money that William was describing. The blue-eyed boy removed himself from his grip and looked around the deck at his crew mates.

Undertaker had stopped pestering the merman and was now just standing off in the corner with Tanaka, cackling to himself as the two of them sipped tea. Grell was screaming at Claude to let go of his hair while the other male just remained emotionless. Finny kept dozing off in Bards arms as the chef had dollar bill signs in his eyes. While Ash had now joined the discussion and both he and William were bombarding the poor captain with numbers and math. 

As Ciel saw this he sighed and brought a hand to his head. He never knew that this lot could be so obsessed with money. But then again, it wasn't entirely a surprise seeing as they all came from middle-class families and were not used to hearing such big amounts when discussing economics.

The boy felt eyes on him then and he looked up, connecting gazes with the merman. A shiver snaked itself down Ciel's spine as that red gaze felt as if it were staring into his soul. He could barely stand it and looked away abruptly, trying to shake off that feeling. He never noticed the smirk that appeared on the merman's lips at his reaction.

 

Eventually it was decided that everything would be handled in the morning. The mer-creature was placed in the tank on the back end of the ship that was used to house fish that were caught using the ship's nets. Wire mess was placed over the top of the tank and it was then pushed into the center of the back deck, making escape impossible for the creature.

After the merman was settled in his new prison, sleep was desperately calling out to all of them. William and Claude were to stay awake together, though, and keep watch over the merman, seeing as it was Claude's turn to watch the ship at night and William had decided to accompany him to calculate some figures.

Claude himself had never taken his focus off of the sea creature, which Ciel found to be very disturbing, but he left him alone, having another issue in mind. 

''Hey. We're not just going to leave him here like this are we?'' Ciel spoke up, shoving his hands into his pocket, unimpressed, when everyone had turned to head below deck.

''What do you mean?'' Ash asked, looking very annoyed by now. He detested working late, after all.

''Well, aren't you going to... put some fish in there or something?'' Ciel asked, probably being one of the few people on board that actually saw this merman as an autonomous being and not just some bag of money. Annoyance or not, he still felt responsible for the thing, even if he had wanted to dive underneath the harsh waters and strangle it for it's elusive actions more than once.

''Yea, what if he gets hungry?'' Finny piped in, looking upset. He cared about the merman's feelings too apparently.

''Come to think of it, what does he eat anyway?'' Agni pondered out loud.

''Who cares?'' Claude asked no one in particular. For some reason he didn't seem to care one way or the other about the merman's wellbeing...

''It appears that you should.'' Undertaker cackled, poking Claude's nose with his long finger. ''What if he dies from starvation? Then we'll be out that large sum of money dear William was talking about.''

Lau clapped his hands together, gaining everyone's attention. ''You do have a point. I suggest we throw some fish in for him before we head off for a long night's rest. There still should be some live ones from the other day's catch, yes?'' While at sea, sometimes they caught and ate their own fish, to conserve money whenever possible.

''But what if he's a vegetarian?'' Finny suddenly gasped, holding his hands together and looking from Lau to the merman's tank and back.

''Then some kelp should suffice for now. We have more than enough of that stuck on our nets.'' William offered, pointing to the net from which the merman was caught. There were long strands of kelp streaming off of it, deep shades of green tangled with the harsh brown of the ropes.

''Yes. That sounds good enough for now.'' Lau agreed and the items were thrown into the merman's tank before everyone headed off to bed. Ciel was the last to leave the scene and shivered slightly as he could feel those red eyes on him as he walked back to the bunks. He dared one look back and wasn't at all surprised to see the man-fish smirking at him in what the boy could only describe as a mischievous way.

In response, Ciel turned up his chin and stalked off. Even though he was initially shocked that what had been plaguing him this whole time was a merman, that didn't mean that Ciel still wasn't angry with the creature for not showing himself sooner. A little hint would have been nice, thank you very much.

The teenager nearly jumped when a hand landed on his shoulder unexpectedly as he rounded a corner. Lau only smiled at the boy as Ciel inwardly ordered his racing heart to calm, having not expected that in the least. ''Ciel. A little birdie told me that you were the one who actually caught the.. the...''

''Merman.'' Ciel could not help looking at the man as if he were an idiot. Seriously, how on EARTH could Lau not know about this? Had he not heard all the stories? ''And by 'little birdie', do you mean William?''

''Ah, little Phantomhive you never cease to amaze me with that brain of yours.'' Ciel stiffened when the captain threw an arm over his shoulders. He had never been one for physical contact, after all. ''Yes it was William, and he and I would like to thank you wholeheartedly for your excellent fishing skills.''

''Good.'' Ciel twitched when Ran-Mao said this and patted his head like a child.

''Thank me?'' 

''Yes. When we bring the fish to port, you will get a significant cut of the money and I'll also promote you when all this is over.'' 

Ciel's eyes widened at this. That sounded too good to be true, but apparently it wasn't as Lau looked the most serious that Ciel ever saw him. ''That sounds...great, sir. Thank you.''

''No problem.'' Lau laughed and messed up Ciel's hair, causing the teenager to frown. ''You caught the thing after all, ha ha.'' The captain removed his hand and gestured towards the stairway to the bunks. ''Now, you should probably get some rest. You've been up all night.''

Ciel felt kind of insulted to be talked to like he was just a little kid, but he didn't have the strength to argue. The man was right, it had been an extremely long night for him. His legs felt like led as he dragged himself off to his own bunk, thinking about those mysterious red eyes all the while.

 

Up on deck, Lau and Ran-Mao came to stand beside William and Claude. The two were calculating numbers at the table they had moved in front of the merman's tank. The smell of ripped eraser permeating the sea salt filled air as they constantly wrote and then erased estimates. The merman himself had laid down by the bottom of his prison, watching them with a laced intent.

Lau looked at the man-fish, the expression on his face dark. ''So...do you think we can get more money if he's alive...or dead?'' 

The merman's ears perked at this, but he otherwise remained motionless. ''I don't know.'' William said, not looking up. ''I would have to make a few phone calls to be sure. More research could be done on him if he were dead, but still, a live merman is not something that people find everyday.''

''Hm...until later then.'' 

 

The next day, Ciel yawned as he helped Bard, Tanaka and Hannah peel potatoes for lunch, even though Tanaka wasn't assisting at all. He just sat in the corner, as per usual. The teenager sniffed, his eyes drooping. He had tossed and turned all night long, but sleep had not taken him for some reason. He blamed that stupid merman, he couldn't get the fish off his mind at all. Even now, he was still plaguing the teen's thoughts.

''Ciel.''

He didn't even know why either. That creature wasn't anything special. It was just half fish. So what?

''CIEL.''

Then again, those red eyes of his did have something mysterious to them. Ciel couldn't even begin to think what they lay hidden about the creature's true thoughts.

''CIEL!''

''Huh?'' Was said teen's intelligent response when Bard threw a potato at him.

''Geez. Would ya' listen? I told ya' three times to go upstairs and get a barrel from the stern. We're out ta potatoes.'' Bard crossed his arms, glaring down at Ciel. 

''Oh...'' The blue-eyed boy said and got up from his seat, putting down his half peeled vegetable on the table and turning to leave.

''Are you alright Ciel?'' A hand was placed on the boy's forehead and everyone, except for Hannah, gawked when the real Tanaka was standing there, checking Ciel's temperature. ''You seem pale. Did you get any sleep last night?''

Ciel's initial shock wore off and he gently removed Tanaka's hand from his forehead. ''Yes.'' He said and made his way up onto the deck, ignoring the two concerned looks that were thrown his way.

The afternoon sun blinded Ciel as he ascended out of the ship’s stomach. He grumbled and shielded his eye while it adjusted, feet ascending the steps to the cargo area solely from memory. He kept his eyes from going anywhere near the fish tank, determined not to feel the chill that went up his spine when those bright red eyes connected with his. Instead, he kept his gaze fixed to the creaking floor boards as he made his way to the barrels. ''If I don’t look at him, then he can’t disturb me.'' He reasoned to himself.

'Oh, I think you’d be wrong about that.' A foreign voice resounded within his skull. The voice was smooth and resonated with a deep timber full of mischief.

Ciel spun around on his heel with a gasp, looking to face the direction he’d heard this internal voice come from. The teenager’s single cerulean eye widened and he heard his own breath go still.

The merman had sunk to the bottom of the tank and was leering at Ciel with those piercing red eyes and a bemused smirk. 'We meet again, it would seem.'

 

~Random Short~(Written by my best friend, A Midnight's Dream)

 

“Thank you for your continued patronage, Lord Ciel.” The stand tender dipped his head in sincere gratitude while said earl pocketed his wares.

“No need to thank me.” The boy said politely. “You’re by far the best of your trade. To go anywhere else would be foolish.”

The man was about to open his mouth to thank him again when screaming from a few stands over interrupted him.

“Help! Help!” A woman at the fruit stand was pointing to a man who was running away from the stand with a burlap sack thrown over his shoulder. “Thief! Someone stop him!”

Ciel nearly forgot to mutter an excuse me as he started to race after the thief. He reached behind him in his pack until he felt his fingers close around a familiar, spherical object. “I know how to stop him.” Ciel brandished a two-toned red and white ball from his pack and pressed a metal button in its center to make it expand in size. “Go, Sebastian! I choose you!”Ciel whipped the ball through the air and with a burst of light the ball opened to release the crude shape of a creature. A small crowd from the bazaar gathered around the spectacle, waiting to see what pocket monster the lad had chosen.

“Meeeeeeeoooooow!” A Grell wearing a Cheshire Cat cosplay mewed, licking his paw and running it over his ear.

Ciel made an annoyed sound in the back of his throat and returned the pokemon to its pokeball. “Blast it, all these pokeballs look the same.” He cursed while brandishing another two toned ball. “Damn it, the thief is getting away.” Without hesitation Ciel whipped the second ball through the air. This time when the ball burst open a black suited butler clad with white bunny ears crouched on the ground with a bored expression on its face.

The thief noticed that Ciel wanted to fight, and turned to face the opposing pokemon with a growl. Good. Ciel thought. Now I’ll have a chance to catch it. “Sebastain, use your furry attack now!” Ciel yelled, thrusting his finger threw the air at the thief.

The pokemon only yawned and laid down on its side.

“What? Hello! I’m talking to you!”

A small caption appeared out of the edge of his vision reading: Trainer Ciel does not have enough gym badges. Sebastian ignored orders. Sebastian is loafing around.

“What?!” Ciel cried in outrage. His pale cheeks tinted a light scarlet when he started to hear spectators from the crowd chuckle at his inexperience. Damn it all, this was supposed to be my time to shine, not embarrass myself! “Fine, I don’t need you.” Ciel growled the last word at his black clad pokemon. “I’ll catch this one myself.” Reaching into his pack Ciel brandished the most expensive and most powerful pokeball money could buy: an ultraball. 

“Go! Ultraball!” He cried and hurled the thing through the air far enough to collide with the thief’s chest. The ball opened, and turned the thief’s form into a polygon of light before it sucked him inside the ball. The ball fell to the ground and began rocking to and fro as the thief within struggled to get out. Ciel clenched his fist and diligently watched the pokeball. Eventually the ball stopped rocking and made a soft ping noise, signaling the pokemon’s capture. Excited cries erupted from the crowd and Ciel let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. A caption appeared at the bottom of the screen, Booyah! Wild Thief has been caught!

“Of course. It was nothing for the head of the Phantomhive family.”

Give a nickname to the captured thief?

Ciel placed a finger to his lip for a moment in pondering before a wicked grin spread across his face. She would be so mad when she found out but he didn't care.

“Yes…Lizzy.” He thought the name perfectly suited the burly, 40-year-old man.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Thank you for all the support I've gotten so far as I repost this fic. I'm so glad that it's getting attention, because I honestly didn't think that it would seeing as I had just planned to upload it for content on this new account of mine.  
> As always, I hope that you enjoyed this chapter, and any continued support, questions of comments is forever appreciated. Thank you! Ja ne!
> 
> ~Migoto Nami


	3. The Voice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Black Butler belongs to Yana Toboso. 
> 
> Songs Listened To When Writing: Under The Sea from the Little Mermaid 
> 
> P.S. This ENTIRE fic was inspired by the song 'Virginia Company' from the movie, Pocahontas.

''You.'' Ciel said, abandoning his task and walking closer to the merman's tank. ''Was that you just now?''

The only response he got was a slight tilt of the head from the sea creature as the being's smirk grew wide. Ciel grit his teeth, feeling irritated. He knew that he heard someone talking to him. ''Do not play dumb with me, creature. Respond!'' The merman remained silent, placing his elbows on the bottom of the tank and resting his chin on top of laced elegant fingers. He looked away innocently, mischievous grin still in place, when Ciel moved closer to his prison.

One single blue eye glared down at the annoying sea creature. ''I said answer me!'' Ciel slammed his hand against the glass but the merman appeared unaffected; those alluring red eyes looking off to the side teasingly. ''I know you can speak. I am not crazy.''

''Are you sure about that, little Phantomhive?'' Said boy didn't even have to turn around to see who was addressing him as he felt a long black fingernail poke at his cheek.

Ciel slapped the Undertaker's hand away from his face and turned around to face the black silk clad man. ''Yes, I am.''

The white haired male cackled at the teen's response. ''I wouldn't know about that. Sane people normally don't talk to fishies.''

Ciel deadpanned. ''You're one to talk. You're probably the most insane person out of all of us.''

''Oh I wouldn't say that. I can think of another who is just as crazy as I am'' The Undertaker laughed when a blur of red abruptly ran past both of them. Grell pressed up against the tank, batting his pretty eyelashes and running his hands over the glass as if he were stroking the sea creature himself.

''Sweetheart, did you miss me? I missed you~! I thought I was going to die during those three minutes that we were apart~!'' The man-fish visibly shivered and turned away in response.

Ciel looked away from the scene immediately, holding no desire to see Grell's botched attempt at flirting for the twelfth time that day. ''...I see.'' He turned to go, but the Undertaker placed a hand upon the teen's shoulder.

''Next time you want to annoy the fishy, try something else. Cuz if that glass breaks we're gonna have to put him in a glass cup instead.'' The old man cackled to himself, swaying at the idea. ''On second thought, that would be hilarious! Hee hee continue what you were doin' then.''

''No never mind. I get it.'' Ciel said and went to retrieve the barrel of potatoes that Bard requested. He could feel the merman's eyes staring at him again but the teen blatantly refused to meet the fish's gaze as he made his way back towards the kitchen.

He skirted past Meyrin and Agni, who waved hello to him before continuing their walk together, continuing their conversation as they went. As he descended past the doorway that led to the kitchen, laughter could be heard from above. An instant scowl formed on the teen's face as he could hear Ash's obnoxious guffaw reached his ears. He was probably up in the helm talking and joking around with Claude, like usual. 

The teen rolled his eyes before the aroma of food wafted into his nose upon entering the kitchen. Ciel looked betrayed as he saw that breakfast had already been completed. ''Hey, I thought you needed these?'' The boy put down the barrel next to the others, glaring at Bard as the chef sheepishly scratched the back of his head.

''Well...I do. But not until later.'' The chef said. ''I figured that I'd ask you to get em' while you're still up cuz there's no way in hell that I'm goin near that man-fish.'' Bard just shivered at the thought. ''Besides, you haven't been outside all day. I thought that maybe you could use some fresh air.'' 

Ciel sighed and shook his head, having no strength to argue. ''Whatever.'' was all the teen bothered said as he went upstairs to get some rest for his shift. He usually woke up when everyone else did in the mornings and helped prepare lunch for the day(seeing as there was surely nothing better to do). Then he would eat and sleep until supper so that he wouldn't be tired while he worked all night.

Today, though, Ciel's appetite had vanished unexpectedly and as such decided to just go to sleep early. That sultry voice inside his head has startled him as well, but he knew that he hadn't imagined it, so it must have been that merman's doing. It had to be. 

 

Unfortunately for Ciel, his shift came around far too soon for his liking. Also,to top it all off, everyone had decided to go to bed early because they didn't get much sleep last night because of the rambunctious night they had all had beforehand. This left Ciel with much more alone time with the sea creature than he could deal with.

A sigh left the teen as he stood there pondering how things could get any worse, as he felt those wine-red eyes staring at him again. Ciel had actually been avoiding coming back here altogether for the better part of an hour because of this particular reason.

Fortunately, Ciel didn't hear that voice inside his head again, which he was extremely thankful for, but the silence was getting to him as he went about his nightly routine. After about a half an hour of silence though, he could take the staring no longer.

''You know, why don't you just take a picture?'' He finally snapped, eyes finally locking upon expectant red. ''It'll last longer.''

There was a silence as the two of them just stared at each other for a few moments. Ciel scoffed and went to get back to work but froze when he heard a voice, the same one from before.

''What's a picture?''

''I knew it was you!'' Ciel shouted, turning around to face the man-fish and pointing an accusing finger at the merman, who cocked his head, that stupid smug smirk in place. ''I knew you could talk.''

''If you already knew that, then why are you acting so surprised?'' The merman's voice was laced with amusement as he watched the teen's flustered face get.

''Shut up! Why didn't you say anything earlier? You made me look like an idiot.''

''Oh, I assure you, you didn't need my help with that at all.'' The sea creature chuckled and Ciel's eyes narrowed in anger.

''Just answer my question.''

''My goodness I never knew humans were so needy.'' The man-fish cackled.

''You are so annoying.'' Ciel grumbled, closing his eyes and massaging his temples.

The merman chuckled, floating up near the top of the tank and looking down at the teen. ''To answer your question, not just anyone can hear me speak.'' 

''...What do you mean by that?'' Ciel crossed his arms, giving the merman a skeptical look.

''I mean precisely what I said. The only people who can hear me are those I choose to have listen.''

''And you chose me?'' Ciel frowned, feeling goosebumps appear on his arms as red eyes met his.

''Yes. You are very interesting, and I find you quite entertaining.''

''Is that the reason why you kept plaguing me for the past month?'' Ciel let his arms drop to his sides, genuinely curious to hear the merman's answer.

''Basically.'' The man-fish shrugged and sunk down to the bottom of his prison. ''I do not really have a reason as to why I kept following you... But your reaction to only seeing my tail was definitely a bonus.'' Ciel's face flushed in embarrassment and grit his teeth.

''Whatever. This conversation is over.'' The blue-eyed teen snapped and grabbed his mop, which had fallen to the ground at some point. ''I have work to do, so just sit there and be quiet like the stupid fish that you are.''

Ciel rolled his eyes as he heard the merman chuckle at him once more. Any other person on this planet probably would have been excited to be conversing with such a mystical being but Ciel just found him to be annoying and cocky so far. 

Thankfully, the merman was silent as Ciel went to work. When finished, the blue-eyed boy put away his cleaning instruments and made his way back to the stern. He looked at the tank to find the sea creature lying down, his back towards Ciel. The teen bit his lip, feeling as if the guilt could swallow him right there. 

Ciel had never meant for this to happen. He had just wanted to see what had been plaguing him for the past month and had planned to throw it back into the ocean once he figured it out. But last night, everything transpired so fast and it just wasn't Ciel's place to argue with Lau or William. Especially not over something like this that could potentially make all of them rich. The prospect of getting that much money and a promotion, like Lau had said last night, should have made Ciel feel extremely content, but all he felt was growing shame. 

He watched the merman for a few moments before sighing and walking over to him. ''So...what's your name?'' The teen asked, crossing his arms and leaning his back against the tank. 

''Why do you wish to know?'' Red eyes peered at him. Ciel stared into them for a few moments before looking away.

''I'm just curious.'' The teen shrugged. Ciel, like anyone else in his position would be, was curious to know a few things about the merman.

''I don't have one.''

Ciel heard shuffling in the tank and turned around to face the man-fish who was now laying on his stomach, facing the boy. ''How can you not have a name?'' Ciel asked, raising an eyebrow. 

''I had one once. Though it has been so long since it was used by another sea creature. I can not recall what it was.'' The merman shrugged, tail swaying back and forth slowly in the water as he watched Ciel. ''If you think about it, a name isn't all that important in the ocean.''

''Well on land it is.'' Ciel explained. ''It's how we address each other. For example, my name is Ciel. People call me as such when speaking to me.''

''I know. I heard a few people address you with that name.''The merman chuckled. ''And if me having no name bothers you so greatly, then why don't you just give me one?''

''I...well...'' Ciel didn't know what to say, suddenly feeling awkward from the suggestion. ''Are you sure?''

''Are you not able to come up with anything? Odd. I pegged you as being an intelligent human. I suppose I was wrong.'' The sea creature teased, taking great delight in seeing Ciel flush and glare at him. ''I do not care either way, I assure you.''

''Fine then.'' Ciel looked around the stern, trying to find something to inspire a name for the sea creature before he got teased again. His eyes caught a red picture of a particular crustacean on a barrel. A sly smirk found it's way to his lips as he walked over to it, placing his hand atop it and turning to face the merman, who was looking at him curiously. ''Then...Sebastian. From now on, at least to me, your name will be Sebastian.''

The merman was silent for a moment before he smiled at Ciel, causing the boy to blink. ''Certainly, well then please, call me Sebastian.'' He said, trying out his new name for himself. ''But may I ask why you chose that name?''

''It's the name of a red crab in a story that I know.'' Ciel explained and tapped his index finger on the picture of the crab.

''I see.'' Sebastian said, bringing an hand up to his mouth to hide his laughter. ''How...clever.''

''I didn't hear you coming up with anything.'' Ciel said, an angry vein pulsing on his forehead. ''Anyway, I am going to retire now.'' The teen saw the clock out of the corner of his eye and saw that it was time to wake up Claude. He stretched his hands over his head, lacing his fingers together as he did so. ''So I will see you later.''

''You don't have to, you know.'' Sebastian said suddenly, causing Ciel to stop and stare at him. The merman stared at the teen with hooded, impish eyes causing him to shiver slightly from their intensity. ''I can sense the guilt that you harbor for imprisoning me.'' Ciel flinched and a smirk made it's way onto Sebastian's lips. ''You know you can always release me... and let go of your regret.''

Ciel didn't say anything, staring straight ahead and away from the deceitful sea creature. He looked at Sebastian after a moment and gave a smirk of his own. ''You know... I would, but I don't have the keys. So, I'll have to bid you good night, Sebastian.'' The deckhand said before the sea creature could protest and headed on his way downstairs. Ciel would be lying if he said that he didn't feel any guilt towards the merman's current situation, but letting him go was definitely not an option right now.

Sebastian watched him go, a frown piercing his lips. ''Good night...Ciel.''

 

“In sixteen hundred seven~! We sail the open sea~! For glory, God, and gold AND THE VIRGINIA COMPANY~!'' Ciel covered his ears with his hands and glared at Bard as the cook merrily sang. He looked over to Hannah, who was calmly making breakfast and appearing totally unaffected by the loud singing. How the hell did she manage that?

Ciel growled when he felt Bard throw an arm over his shoulders and sway them both together as he continued, ''Or so we have been told by the VIRGINIA COMPANY~!'' 

''Bard! Shut up! You sing that same song EVERY morning!'' Ciel protested loudly but the cook didn't care and just continued with his early morning routine as he cut up some fruit. The deckhand grumbled and pinched the bridge of his nose. ''Ugh. I am going to kill you one of these days.''

''Ciel.'' Hannah said, getting the boy's attention. Which was a miracle in itself because of Bard's obnoxiously loud singing. ''Go tell everyone that breakfast will be ready shortly.''

''Oh thank the Lord.'' Ciel mumbled to himself and headed up on deck, thankful to be away from that mess. His task didn't take very long as most of the crew could be found still asleep among their bunks or in their normal morning locations. The only ones who were oddly misplaced were Agni, Meyrin, and Grell, and the teen had a sneaking suspicion as to where he might be... 

''Oh my scrumptious noodlekins! You're so cute when you look at me that way!~'' Ciel couldn't help the cheeky grin that came over his face as he found Grell torturing Sebastian once again. A chuckle left the deckhand as he lent against the side of the ship, watching the chaos unfold. 

Red eyes could barely hold their glare as the the merman caught his gaze and Ciel wasn't at all surprised when he heard Sebastian's sultry voice echo in his mind again, 'Please get this...individual away from me. I am gathering a headache.'

Ciel couldn't stop his amused smirk. 'Why should I make him leave? You look you're having so much fun.'

'I most certainly am not. Now I implore you to get rid of...him.'

'Alright alright.' Ciel shook his head and walked over to Grell, getting the red head's attention.''What do you want, brat? Can't you see I am oggling my hunky fish-sicle?''

Ciel raised an eyebrow at the whaler's choice of words but otherwise didn't comment on it. ''Breakfast is ready and also, William's looking for you.” He gestured for Grell to come closer, as if to tell him a secret. “I think he's getting jealous that you're spending all your time out here with the merman instead of with him.''

''What?'' Grell exclaimed, taking a hold of Ciel's shoulders and shaking the teen, much to the boy's irritation and Sebastian's pleasure. ''My poor William! I was just flirting! He has to know that he's the only one for me, right? Oh my dear William, I'm coming~!'' The redhead zoomed off to find his love then, leaving the deckhand quite disoriented and dizzy.

''...Thank you.'' Sebastian said after a moment, getting as close to Ciel as the glass would allow. ''I can not describe in words how...disturbing that person is.''

''Trust me, I know.'' Ciel agreed, dusting off his clothes. ''I've had to put up with him for years.''

''...He has come onto you like this?'' Ciel looked up at Sebastian, gulping when he saw the a shaded look in the merman's eyes.

''No I didn't mean it like that.'' The blue eyed boy put up his hands, trying to keep the peace. ''I meant that I've just had to be around him for a long time, that's all. We both live on the same ship.''

''...I see.'' Sebastian said, looking off to the side quietly. It was then that Ciel decided upon a change of subject.

''Have you seen a tall guy with white hair and a girl with red hair and glasses recently? I need to tell them that breakfast's ready.''

Sebastian gazed back at Ciel and nodded, gesturing behind the teen to two figures talking over by the very end of the ship. ''They have been over there talking for an awful long time.''

Ciel looked behind him and saw Agni and Meyrin looking awfully close to each other as they talked. The Indian was scratching the back of his head sheepishly as Meyrin laughed. ''Oh, I see what's going on here...'' He had thought that the two of them had been spending a lot more time together than usual, and now he knew why.

''...Is she his mate?'' Ciel nearly jumped in surprise when Sebastian bluntly asked his question right next to his ear through the glass.

''I don't know.'' Ciel answered incredulously, crossing his arms and looking off to the side. ''Don't ask me.''

''To me it appears that she is.'' Sebastian said, lying down. His signature smirk came onto his face as he looked up at the teen curiously. ''Tell me Ciel, do you have a mate?''

''What?'' Ciel asked a little more loudly than was probably necessary. ''No.''

''Oh? Why? Is it because of your disagreeable personality?''

''No!'' Ciel snapped. ''And you are one to talk.''

''Or maybe perhaps it is that your species finds you unattractive?'' Sebastian teased, smiling mischievously when the teen glared angrily at him.

''Would you be quiet?!'' Ciel practically yelled, not caring that he was probably heard by half of the whole ship.

''Or could it be that you have no mate because of your-''

''Ugh, just shut up Sebastian!''

 

''So...have you found out anything yet?'' Lau asked, stroking Ran-Mao's back as she sat in his lap. William was currently in front of him, hair messed up with a pencil shoved behind his ear as he typed away on an old fashioned calculator.

''It appears that either way we will get thousands of dollars no matter where we sell him.'' William said. He had already contacted numerous ports, trying to find someone who would pay the most money for their catch, but none of the numbers were high enough for his liking just yet. ''But it will take me some time to figure out which port we should sell to in order to make the most profit.''

''I see.'' Lau said, smiling. ''Well take as much time as you like. We still have to catch a whale before we go back to land anyway.''

William nodded and went back to his work and Lau sighed. The business man wasn't really much for conversation, was he? The captain's attention switched to his first mate in his lap instead. ''So it appears that the merman will be staying with us for some time. Isn't that exciting, Ran-Mao?''

''...Seaweed.''

 

~Random Short~

Sebastian politely knocked on his master's door. When he acquired permission to enter the room, he pushed the serving cart into his master's office, shutting the door behind him. He placed his master's lunch down in front of him, reciting with much practice what was on the menu for the day.

''Today, young master, we are having roast duck with..'' As Sebastian was talking he noticed his master's widened eyes. Ciel looked at his butler with a serious on his face, slowly reaching for a news paper that was on his desk and rolling it up.

''Is there something the matter, young master?'' The demon finally asked, not liking the look that the boy was giving him.

''Sebastian. Don't move.'' Ciel commanded, getting up from his chair and walking towards his butler. ''There's a spider on your face.''

''What?'' Sebastian raised an eyebrow and looked at his face the best he could and noticed a black and yellow blob on his left cheek.

''Well howdy doo~!'' The spider said and tipped his small hat to Sebastian, who remained as stiff as a board for a second, and then...

Sebastian screamed and and started running around his master's desk, clawing at his face. ''GETITOFFGETITOFFGETITOFFGETITOFF!!!!!'' 

''Well I would if you would just stay still!'' Ciel roared and chased the demon. ''Quit acting like a baby and get over here!''

''NOOO! YOUNG MASTER GET IT OFF!''

''I'm trying!!'' The Earl growled and then finally tackled Sebastian to the ground.

''What in the blazes is going on in here?'' Bardroy yelled, barging into the room with the other servants behind him. They had all heard the screaming and had rushed to help, but froze at what they saw...

Only the very top of the young master's head was visible over the desk and Sebastian's feet stuck out from the sides. The butler's feet were moving erratically as Ciel groaned and fought with the demon, irritated that Sebastian was still trying to get away from him and freak out about the stupid spider.

Bard's cigarette dropped to the floor in shock and he covered Finny's eyes as Meryin blushed, a trail of blood flowing from her nose. To them, the scene before them looked very...questionable indeed.

''Young master, just do it already!''

''I'm trying!''

''You're not getting it!''

''That's because you won't stay still! Be still so I can do it right!'' Ciel groaned as he tried to simultaneously hold down Sebastian and whack the spider at the same time. Apparently that groan was mistaken for a moan because Bard covered quickly covered Finny's ears as well. The cook blushed as more noises were heard and tried to usher everyone out of the room, but not before they all heard Sebastian scream,

''Ew! It's all sticky on my face!''

Bard quickly threw everyone out and grabbed onto the door handle,fishing into his pocket and pulling out a few packages from his trousers. ''Stay protected!'' He yelled and threw the condoms into the room before practically running away from the scene.

''You big baby. You didn't need to scream.'' Ciel huffed and got up off his butler, who now had spider guts all over his cheek.

''That was a very traumatizing experience, master.'' Sebastian sniffled and got up from the floor, wiping at his face with a stray napkin.

''Whatever...Sebastian what are those?'' The Earl asked when he finally noticed the condoms on the floor.

''Oh my!'' The demon chuckled when he too noticed the small packages. ''It appears that someone has left us an invitation. Should we indulge in their wishes?''

''Whatever it is, no. Bring me my tea.''

''But master~''

''No.''

''Aw...''

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey again guys! Once again I'm glad that you're enjoying this story so much! As always, I hope you enjoyed, and any feedback would be greatly appreciated! Thanks again! Ja ne!
> 
> ~Migoto Nami


	4. The Dream

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Black Butler belongs to Yana Toboso. 
> 
> Songs Listened To When Writing: Jellyfish Jam from Spongebob, Sound the Bugle from Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, Kingdom Dance from Tangled(((Ciel's Song)))
> 
> P.S. This ENTIRE fic was inspired by the song 'Virginia Company' from the movie, Pocahontas.

''Eat.''

''No thank you.''

''Sebastian, just eat already.''

''I decline.''

Ciel rubbed his temples with two of his fingers irritably as he tried to calm himself down. Before lunch, William had ordered him to give the merman more food and the deckhand had thought that this would be a simple task at the time.

Sebastian hadn't eaten anything so far and now they were fighting...again. And just when Ciel had been beginning to think that they were starting to tolerate each too...

''You ate the other fish. This is the same exact thing, just eat it.'' Ciel grumbled, trying to remain calm. He knew if Sebastian didn't eat then William would have a fit. 

''I only consumed that horrid excuse for a meal because I had no other choice at the time.'' Sebastian seemed bored as he floated amongst the calm water of his tank, more interested in examining his nails than the fish that were swimming around his living space. 

''Well you have no other choice now either. So just eat the damn food already.'' Ciel glared right back at the sea creature, not backing down from his request.

''That is not true. Back then, I was unable to speak with you, but currently I can.'' Sebastian let his tail stretch out as he shifted into a more comfortable position, still keeping his arms crossed. ''Now, I have made my request for what I wish to consume. Acquire it for me, and you shall have no further problems with my eating habits.''

Ciel just glared harder at the merman when Sebastian threw him that cheeky close-eyed smile of his. The teen put a hand up to the bridge of his nose and pinched it. ''Sebastian. I am not diving... into the ocean...to find you your stupid tuna.'' He spoke slowly, as if speaking to a child. ''So just eat your fucking snappers and be done with it.''

''Then it seems we have reached an impass.'' 

''Sebastian.'' Ciel glowered. ''I am going to kill you. Just eat!'' The teen slammed his hand on the glass separating them, having had enough of this. 

''No. And do not do that.'' Sebastian's right eye twitched with irritation, red and blue eyes glaring at one another. 

''I'll stop when you eat something.'' Ciel hissed and slammed the glass again. He didn't use enough force to harm the tank, only enough to make Sebastian irrate. 

''I already told you-'' Sebastian was cut off as Ciel slammed the glass again and the merman covered his own ears, glaring death at the teen. ''Stop that.''

''Eat.'' Slam.

''Ciel-''

Another slam. ''No. Eat.'' 

Sebastian hardened his gaze and suddenly flicked his tail upwards with some effort, causing a wave of water to splash out of the tank and crash over Ciel. The deckhand instinctively shielded himself with his arms as he got soaking wet. 

Ciel was stunned into silence for a few moments as he shivered and coughed from being soaked to the bone with cold water. He looked up at Sebastian, who could barely contain a self-satisfied smirk. ''You little wretch!'' Ciel coughed, extremely pissed.

''What ever is going on back here, Phantomhive?'' Someone asked, stopping Ciel from all but climbing into the tank and strangling the merman.

Ciel coughed for a few more moments before addressing the three that had approached him. ''What does it look like?'' He growled, not at all caring that he was being rude to his superiors.

''Well it looks like you got your ass handed to you by a fish.'' Ash brought a hand to his mouth to hide his smirk as Claude frowned at the boy's lack of respect. 

William, on the other hand, let the disrespectful tone go for now as he surveyed the scene before turning back to Ciel. ''Phantomhive. Clean this up.'' He adjusted his glasses higher up onto his nose as he walked over to the tank and gestured to Sebastian. ''I have told everyone on board that this creature is property and should be treated as such.'' 

Ciel bit into his lip and looked away, remaining silent.

''I can not have you damaging the ship's property, so I will ask you to keep your distance once again.'' William fixed his glasses and looked at Sebastian out of the corner of his eye. ''Honestly, I don't understand why anyone would want to purchase him alive. If you ask me, this creature is better off dead. It would be easier on all of us.'' He mumbled to himself, irritated from all the trouble already caused by the sea creature.

In an instant, William ended up soaked from a splash, having suffered the same fate as Ciel just a few moments ago. His glasses slipped off of his nose due to the crash and the business man coughed. ''My glasses!'' He exclaimed when he noticed that they were gone and scrambled to find the missing piece of eye-wear. 

Meanwhile, Ash started laughing loudly and Ciel chuckled to himself when William blindly searched for his spectacles on the soaking we floor. Claude on the other hand, remained silent like usual, but he gripped onto the side of his own glasses, silently pitying the poor man in front of him. 

''Stop laughing this instant! I will not tolerate such disrespect!'' William hissed and pointed at the laughing duo as his other hand continued to look for his glasses. 

This only caused Ash and Ciel's laughter to increase because he pointed in the wrong direction from where they were standing. Eventually, Claude decided to step in and handed William his glasses. The business man gave Sebastian a look that could kill before turning his attention to Ash and Ciel. The former was still laughing as Ciel wisely stopped.

''If you find this to be so funny, Ash, then you can clean up this mess.'' William said and shoved a mop into the white-haired male's chest before angrily stalking off, Claude in tow. Ash seemed to snap out of it after that and ran after the two, complaints spewing from his mouth.

Ciel let out another chuckle as he watched them go before turning back to Sebastian. His amused expression instantly vanished, however, when he saw the barely contained hurt in those red eyes. The teen bit his lip and moved to talk to him but was stopped at William's shout of, ''Phantomhive! Go dry off this instant! You are tracking water everywhere!''

The deckhand sighed at this, and gave one final look at Sebastian before leaving to go change.

 

A while later, Ciel was all dried off and buried beneath the covers of his bunk. He had gotten off easy with cleaning up the deck as William had very angrily ordered Ash to do it in revenge. Ciel in the meanwhile, had tried to talk to Sebastian, but the merman refused to even acknowledge his presence.

Ciel sighed to himself as he turned over in his bed and brought the blankets up around himself more comfortably. His sapphire eyes slipped closed as he listened to the waves hitting the outside of the ship, the familiar noise lulling him to sleep. The teen had almost slipped into dreamland when he heard two pairs of feet make their way downstairs. 

''Oh, Ciel's already sleeping.'' The teen could instantly make out the voice of Meyrin.

''Yes, it appears that he is alright then.'' He could make out the voice of Agni next and Ciel furrowed his eyebrows from under the covers, wondering why they would come down here. 

''His asthma must not have bothered him from that splash.'' Meyrin commented quietly to herself and Ciel heard her sit down on a bunk near his. They must have heard what happened.

''I am glad.'' Agni whispered in the quiet room and Ciel felt his eyes droop slightly when he heard Agni sit down next to her. ''For a while there, I had been concerned about him.''

''I know. When he suddenly stopped eating, I felt so worried about him too, yes I did.'' Meyrin said quietly. ''I'm glad to see he's doing alright, yes I am.'' The room became silent after that for a long while. Ciel closed his eyes, ready to fall asleep, when Agni picked up the conversation again.

''Miss Meyrin...about our conversation yesterday...'' He seemed unsure about how to proceed and Ciel raised an eyebrow but otherwise didn't move.

''I know...I've thought about it, yes I have...'' Meyrin whispered back so quietly that it was a miracle that Ciel even heard her. ''And I think...that we could do that...'' shortly after that Ciel heard the bed next to him creak and Meyrin give a faint surprised gasp. Ciel's breathing evened out as he finally fell asleep, but not before hearing the unmistakable noise of soft, feverent, kisses.

His ears heard the noise, but instead of imagining Agni and Meyrin, his sleep-filled mind conjured up the image of himself and Sebastian kissing. Ciel shifted in his sleep as he felt dream-Sebastian wrap his silver tail around one of his legs as the teen tangled his fingers in the merman's raven colored locks, tongues twisting and searching inside eachother's mouths.

His dream self pulled Sebastian closer as the merman ran his fingers down Ciel's chest, causing the teen to shiver. He could feel Sebastian's smirk through their kiss and Ciel bit down on the raven's bottom lip irritably as he cradled the back of Sebastian's neck in his right hand while his left slid down his bare back slowly. He could feel Sebastian grip his hips, tracing his merman tail up and down the teen's thigh. Ciel's dream eyes opened at this and red eyes met one blue before the deckhand felt tugging on the back of his head as Sebastian untied his eye-patch and let it drop into the darkened haze below them. Ciel slowly let his other eye open and he could feel Sebastian smile against his lips when both ocean-colored eyes gazed upon him for the first time. Ciel returned the smile before he could stop himself as he kissed Sebastian again, gazing clearly into those two beautiful wine red-colored eyes.

Had the real Ciel actually been awake, this scene might not have been as inviting, but to his sleep-deprived mind, it was a pleasant image indeed and the teen smiled slightly in his sleep before slipping further into unconsciousness. 

 

When he awoke a few hours later, Ciel ate dinner and got ready for work, all the while still pondering what had just transpired. The fact that he had heard Agni and Meyrin together didn't bother him nearly as much as his dream did. Even now, as he started to work, the image wouldn't leave his mind.

Ciel mopped down the bow of the ship with a little bit more force than necessary. Why was he suddenly having these thoughts about Sebastian now? Ciel should be mad at him, but no. His stupid mind had to come up with crazy ideas. The teen could find no ill feelings within himself towards Sebastian about what happened. At least not anymore, not after that weird-ass dream.

Once everywhere but the stern had been cleaned, Ciel couldn't stay away any longer. As he was making his way to the back, he thought about his dream again and closed his eyes, a frown coming onto his face as well as a light blush. Ciel could just imagine the merman's cocky smirk if he ever found out. 

As he rounded the corner to the back, Ciel had expected Sebastian to have calmed down from earlier and to be waiting for him with a smug look on his face, but that isn't at all what he found. The raven was lying down on the floor of his tank on his stomach, his quiet gaze towards the sea. The deep longing he found within those wine red eyes tore at something inside the teen.  
He pulled back and rested the back of his head against the wall, looking up at the stars. Now he felt like a complete and utter ass hole for capturing the merman. Sebastian didn't deserve this. Nobody did. Ciel bit his lip, feeling the desperate urge from nowhere to comfort the merman, his mind racing past images for a way to do so. An idea formed into his head after a few moments and headed back to the bow of the ship.

 

Sebastian silently watched a few happy dolphins jumping in and out of the ocean, meticulous eyes taking in their every move. While the raven severely hoped that he wouldn't be put to death by these humans, if staying in a cage the rest of his life was the other option, then maybe that wouldn't be so bad.

The merman sighed as those thoughts entered his head before he onto his side and closed his eyes, willing the thoughts away with the scattered sea breeze. Wine red colored eyes slowly opened when he heard a wonderous sound reach his ears. He slowly sat up and looked off in the direction of the sound to find Ciel with an instrument he had never seen before. Sebastian remembered the sound as being similar to the noise that he heard two nights ago, but different, more exciting. He swam closer so that he could hear more clearly.

Their eyes met in that instant as Ciel played, red and blue colliding in a silent haze. Sebastian slowly sat down as he heard the teen play, feeling a sense of indescribable calm wash over him as he intensely listened. All too soon, though, Ciel lowered his bow, stopping the beautiful sound. 

There was silence between them for a moment before Ciel spoke. ''...Hey.'' He said quietly, at a loss of what to say. 

''...Hello.'' Sebastian said softly and watched as Ciel set down his instrument carefully.

''Sebastian.'' The deckhand sighed. ''I'm sorry about before-''

''Don't fret about it.'' Sebastian said, looking reserved about the entire endevour as he interrupted Ciel by holding up one of his hands. “It's in the past.”

''No, I overreacted. I'm sorry.'' Ciel said hastily, guilt pushing him on. Sebastian was the victim here. He was the one being held against his will in a tank. He had every right to be as selfish as he wanted to be. 

''No, I lost my temper.'' Sebastian corrected him calmly. 

''Well I was the one who freaked out over stupid tuna.'' Ciel recalled, hoping to bait Sebastian's reaction some. The merman was slipping further into his shell, a mask that allowed no emotions to seep through. It was a defense mechanism, and Ciel hated seeing it.

''Tuna are not stupid.'' The merman said, frowning as Ciel smirked a little.

''They are pretty stupid.''

''They are quite delicious.''

''I'd rather have a snapper.''

''Then you certainly have no taste.''

A heated glare was passed between them before Sebastian shook his head and looked away with a small smirk, causing Ciel to raise an eyebrow in question. ''What's so funny?''

''We can never just agree on anything can we?'' Sebastian asked, failing to hide his amused expression.

''No.'' Ciel said, starting to chuckle as well as he sat down with his back against the tank. ''I guess we can't.'' A comfortable silence settled over them for a few moments before Sebastian broke it.

''Ciel, I really am sorry for hitting you.''

The deckhand looked over his shoulder to find that Sebastian was sitting similarly to him, only the glass separating them from sitting back to back. ''No, it's alright. I'm just sorry that I made you feel like...'' He thought for a moment on how to phrase his words. ''You couldn't count on the one person you confided in on this entire ship.'' Ciel looked over his shoulder again to find Sebastian staring at him silently.

''I humbly accept your apology, then.'' Sebastian said, closing his eyes and smiling at the deckhand. ''You seem to realize your own mistake anyway that this was entirely your fault.'' Ciel felt a vein throb on the top of his head irritably but decided to let that comment go in order to keep the peace. ''Anyway, Ciel.'' Sebastian lied down on his side, facing the teen. 'He can never just stay still can he?' The blue-eyed boy thought to himself as the merman made himself comfortable.

''What ever was that instrument that you were playing?''

Ciel looked over to the instrument in question, which was lying peacefully on top of a barrel a few feet away. ''It's called a violin.''

''A violin? I see.'' Sebastian stared at it as well. ''It's music is quite enchanting.'' The sea creature closed his eyes, remembering the sound that he had heard only moments ago.

''Do all mer-creatures enjoy music this much?'' Ciel asked, amused at the other male's antics and genuinely curious how Sebastian could be so obsessed with just hearing a violin.

''I can not say. I have not met many other creatures such as myself.''

Ciel raised an eyebrow and looked at Sebastian, his curiosity piqued. ''What do you mean?''

''I have never met any other mer-creatures besides the ones in my pod.'' Sebastian explained.

''Your pod?''

''Yes.'' The merman placed a finger to his chin, trying to figure out a way to explain. ''I suppose you could say that your 'pod' is your 'family', in human terms.''

''...I see.'' Ciel said, for some reason, the thought of Sebastian having actual family out there never crossed his mind until now. The very idea of them looking for him and missing him made the teen feel even more like a jerk for taking him away.

''Yes. There is only two of us now. Just my great great grandfather and I.'' Sebastian's ruby red eyes gazed up at the stars.

Ciel was silent for a while, his tongue burning with a subtle tang to ask further. He ultimately decided against it though and asked something else. ''Are there any other pods out there?''

''Not that I have encountered.'' Sebastian's brows furrowed as he tried to remember. ''I believe that there are some, but they are probably only populated by males. In all honesty, I think that mermaids went extinct a long time ago.''

A single blue eye widened at this. So there were no actual mermaids left? But then... ''How do you reproduce?''

''We don't.'' Sebastian locked his eyes with Ciel's and the teen stiffened at the serious look in those red eyes. The merman held the gaze for a moment before looking away. ''We are a dying race.''

Instant regret filled Ciel then as he watched Sebastian retreat into himself. The more he spent talking with the merman, the more he wanted to help him, but that only ended up making himself feel torn between Sebastian and the crew. The feeling gnawed at him whenever he interacted with the merman, a painful, silent reminder. 

''Ciel.'' Said teen turned to Sebastian when he heard him quietly call to him. ''Could you perhaps play me another song? I can not stop thinking about your music.'' The merman said, a smile that help none of it's usual mischief upon his lips.

''You truly are obsessed.'' Ciel commented lightly, but still got up to retrieve his violin anyway. 

''I can not help it. The sound is so enchanting.'' Sebastian commented as he lay down to watch Ciel.

The blue eyed boy shook his head before starting to play, all the while feeling extremely pleased with himself that he could at least give Sebastian this one small joy.

 

The next morning, Ciel's fingers had a few callouses from his continuous playing and the stern of the ship had been swabbed last minute, but it had been done nonetheless. The deckhand rested his chin on top of his fist as he watched Sebastian consume the tuna that he had to fight with Bard tooth and nail for. But the teen didn't really care so much as long as the merman was content. 

Ciel didn't even know why he wanted to please Sebastian so much. His mind tickled his thoughts with his dream but he swatted it away. It was probably due to guilt or something along those lines. Yea, that was probably it...

''Hey Ciel, are you okay?'' Said teen blinked when he saw Finny's hand wave in front of his face. When did he get there? 

''Yes, I'm fine.''

''Oh, good. I thought you had flown off to the moon or something.'' Finny laughed. ''You looked so out of it.''

''Yea...'' Ciel mumbled to himself, looking past Finny. The other deckhand raised an eyebrow and followed Ciel's line of sight, laughing when he saw that the blue-eyed boy had been looking at Sebastian this whole time.

''You know Ciel, if you want fish, I'm sure Bard would give you some.'' The blonde said, making assumptions.

Ciel raised an eyebrow at the happy blonde before getting up, deciding to use that excuse rather than admit that he had been creeping on the merman. ''Uh, yea. I guess I'll go ask.''

''Okay. And Ciel, make sure you get some sleep tonight. The bags under your eyes are huge!'' Ciel twitched at Finny's blunt honesty but otherwise didn't comment as he walked away. His eyes cast one last look at Sebastian to see the merman giving a genuine little smile to him and couldn't help giving a small one of his own back.

 

''So then I said, THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID!'' Bard laughed at his own crude joke as everyone was eating lunch down below deck. Lau laughed with him as everyone else pretty much remained silent. Undertaker, on the other hand, was laughing so hysterically that Ciel thought that he was going to pass out from lack of air any second.

''Please refrain from such comments.'' William said, adjusting his glasses. ''I am trying to eat.''

''Oh don't be such a stiff, William.'' Lau said, clapping his hands before opening his mouth to allow Ran-Mao to spoon feed him some of his meal. ''It's all in good fun. Right, Undertaker?'' The captain chuckled, earning loud cackles from the white haired male.

''Anyway.'' William said, ignoring the captain. ''I have some news about our latest catch.''

''You mean my hunky fish-sicle?'' Grell swooned from his spot next to William and Ciel froze, hand holding food halfway towards his mouth. William glared at the red-head before he nodded.

''Yes. I am able to give you a brief estimate of the amount of money that we are going to be able to acquire.'' 

''So how much dough are we talking about here?'' Ash piped in, eager to know.

''I do not have an exact number but all of my calculations range somewhere within the two thousands.'' William said, earning a few shocked gasps from around the table.

''That's awesome!'' Bard said, dollar signs practically dancing around in his eyes.

''Oooh! I can buy so many new red dresses!'' Grell said, fantasizing about all the beautiful accessories he could purchase. Likewise, everyone at the table was thinking similar thoughts, all except one.

Ciel gulped, feeling a lump lodge itself within his throat at the impending news.

 

~Random Short~(Inspired by Coach Hines from Mad TV)

Ciel placed his pen under his nose and balanced it there by pursing his lips upwards. He had been doing paperwork for hours and was now goofing off because he didn't want to do it anymore. He was also trying to see how much he could mess with Sebastian by not doing what he was supposed to do. That was always fun.

The Earl nearly jumped out of his skin when said demon burst open the door to his office, looking extremely P.O.ed for some reason. Ciel frowned when his pen fell from his lips. Now he would have to try to beat his own record all over again.

''My lord.'' Sebastian said, walking up towards the boy's desk. He didn't care right now that he was being disrespectful and slammed his hands on the boy's desk. ''I am going to kill Finny and Bard.''

''Sebastian, how long can you balance a pen under your nose?'' Ciel completely ignored the demon's death threat, biting said writing instrument.

''My lord, I am serious this time.''

''So am I. Lizzy once went three days without dropping her pen. Three days, Sebastian!''

''My lord, please. I implore you to let me have my revenge upon them.''

''I mean how did she even eat?!''

''Ciel!''

''Tell me how Sebastian! I command you!'' 

Sebastian was silent for a moment, taking angry breaths, before he swiftly exited the room. He came back in two seconds flat, holding Bard and Finny's ears as he dragged them.

''Ow! God dammit that hurts!'' Bard cursed as Finny basically started crying.

''Get over there.'' Sebastian pushed the two blondes towards Ciel, who was about to lick a blue glue stick for some reason. The demon ignored it and shoved the chef and cook again. ''Get over there and tell the young master, RIGHT NOW, what you did to me this morning!''

''I don't want to!'' Finny exclaimed, wiping his eyes as he started bawling. 

''Sebastian, whatever it is, I can assure you that I don't care.'' Ciel said as he rolled up the stick even higher before licking it again. The raven took the stick away and held it where the Earl couldn't reach it, making the boy whine.

''You better care or I'm not making you any more chocolate cakes!''

Ciel gasped comically before backing down and grumbling to himself. ''Fine. What happened?''

''Okay um, this morning we put crazy glue in Mister Sebastian's gloves.'' Finny confessed, still silently crying tears.

''Tell him what you did, after that!'' Sebastian hissed, pulling at Bard's ear.

''After that we called Grell and told him that Sebastian wanted a...few things.'' Bard hissed, his ear hurting like mad.

''That...individual is currently locked in the down stairs bathroom with nothing on but lingerie!'' Sebastian glowered. ''Unbelievable. Now tell him what you did after that!''

''After that we shaved his favorite cat that lives outside in the gardens.''

''Yes. Now tell him what you did after- woah wait WHAT?!'' Sebastian's eyes widened as he stared at Bard in disbelief. ''You did WHAT?!'' In an instant the demon was out of the room and the cook, gardener and Earl could hear his shouts of, 'MY POOR BABY!!!!' from out in the garden.

''Eep! I'm outta here!'' Bard wailed and wisely fled the scene as Finny did the same, each running in opposite directions to make finding a hiding spot easier. 

A few minutes later, Ciel could hear Finny and Bard's cries as Sebastian basically beat the crap out of them, but the Earl didn't care one bit about what was happening with them right now. No, he had other things to think about.

''Ah, alone at last.'' Ciel said as he licked his precious blue glue stick.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! As always, I hope that you enjoyed this chapter! Please leave a comment if you can! Ja Ne!
> 
> ~Migoto Nami


	5. The Kiss

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Black Butler belongs to Yana Toboso. 
> 
> Songs Listened To When Writing: You Snuck Your Way Right Into My Heart from Phineas and Ferb
> 
> P.S. This ENTIRE fic was inspired by the song 'Virginia Company' from the movie, Pocahontas.

Humans are strange This is what Sebastian has come to realize after spending a little more than three weeks observing them.

They are able to spontaneously combust themselves at random. Nearly a week ago, a sudden crash was heard from below deck before a man with blonde colored hair dressed in white ran around the deck, screaming like a distressed whale. Others soon joined him and they all proceeded to run around, a strange red aura surrounding them. Sebastian was indeed sure that he had never been as incredibly confused then he had been at that moment...

Old humans in particular, are in a whole different league of weird when compared to their younger counterparts. The merman had, on more than one occasion, found anold man sitting by some barrels when he could have SWORN he hadn't been there a second ago. Also, there was an individual with long grey colored hair that kept giving him kelp and swishing around whilst saying, ''Fishy Fishy enjoy your dishy!~'', much to the merman’s annoyance.

Lastly, and probably most importantly, Sebastian had learned never to trust men in with clear circles over their eyes(glasses, as Ciel called them). Women with glasses were alright, but men...No. Just no.

As usual, Sebastian had just been minding his own business when he had been bothered again by that red-headed...male? At first, Sebastian ignored him, like always, but then that other man in glasses approached, looking horribly angry. The merman wasn’t paying particular attention to them, so he was quite startled when the brunette forcefully pushed the perverted red-head against his prison, whispering words like, ''You are mine.'', ''How dare you look at anyone else.'' and such, as the other practically screamed, ''Oh Will!''. After that, if Sebastian could have left, he would have, to say the least.

So yes. Humans are very weird creatures indeed...

 

Ciel yawned as he stretched both hands above his head in an attempt to wake himself up for work. Things had been considerably awkward for him over the past few weeks. The crew kept whispering of riches to come, but Ciel refused to join in on the conversation. He could understand their enthusiasm, but at the same time, he couldn't comprehend how they could be so heartless.

Sebastian was just as autonomous as anyone else. He had thoughts, feelings and, as Ciel quickly found out, more intelligence than most of the people on board. Sebastian had conveyed that he was nearly 300 years old, and that he hadn’t seen his only family, his great great grandfather in over 50 years, due to the raven’s tendency to swim between oceans frequently. Likewise, Ciel had also shared information concerning his family, his own age(To which Sebastian had laughed at, saying that he was ''But a guppy.'') and other pointless things like his favorite color, food and various others that Sebastian asked about. As a result, a time woven tight bond had actually formed between them now that they ceased their useless fighting. 

Ciel had found that he rather liked having someone to converse openly with, and had actually been caught talking with the merman on more than two occasions by various people on the ship. Nobody particularly cared about this, however, as most could agree that Ciel talking to a fish wasn't the weirdest thing that has happened on this ship. No, that honor would forever belong to the time when Undertaker had gotten drunk and started doing the macarena and shamelessly flirted with Finny and Hannah in some lingerie that he stole from Grell...

The teen shivered at the memory before starting to get to work. Time ticked rather slowly, but he endured it until he reached the bow of the ship, where he wasn't surprised to Sebastian sleeping. The merman had recently taken to resting while Ciel cleaned up the ship and then waking up once the teen finished cleaning. Ciel could guess as to why, but always decided against confirming it.

He knew that Sebastian trusted him, and that fact filled Ciel with guilt more than anything else. The circumstances of their meeting was always there, in the back of his mind, nagging him whenever they got closer to one another. As if to say, 'You don't deserve to be near him.'

Ciel was so lost in his thoughts that he hadn't even noticed he had been mopping the same stop for over five minutes. Thankfully Sebastian was still asleep and unaware of his blunder, so, for now at least no mocking words were said. The corners of his mouth turned upwards slightly at the sight of the merman’s peace, his muddled mind thinking the raven adorable for a brief moment. The deckhand quickly shook his head and walked back to the front of the ship when he caught himself with these thoughts...again.

Ciel sighed and walked back to the stern after putting away his tools. He put a hand to his forehead and whispered to himself, ''What is wrong with me?''

''Well, there are a certain number of things that I can name.'' Ciel frowned and looked at the now awake Sebastian, who had his trademark smug smirk on his face. ''An example being your taste in clothing.'' The merman chuckled quietly. ''Why ever do you cover your eye if you have perfect vision?''

''Ah.'' Ciel said, crossing his arms in front of his chest and ignoring the question. ''So the sleeping princess is finally awake I see.''

Sebastian paused for a moment before a cocky look slithered across his face. ''If you deem me as such, then does that mean that you are my ''knight in shining armor''?'' He asked, causing Ciel to look away quickly, a subtle hint of red stabbing the top of the teen’s ears.

''No.'' The teen said incredulously, frowning. 

''Oh I see. You must be unfit for the job then.'' Sebastian continued to tease the human, running his fingers through his black hair and swishing his tail. It was obvious that the merman was making a show of himself but Ciel refused to look in defiance. ''Too bad. It seems that I must take my business elsewhere.'' He dramatically brought a hand up to his forehead, like a damsel in distress. ''I sure hope that I can find someone else to rescue me.''

Ciel frowned, once again reminded of his guilt. ''…That's not funny.''

''Oh but it is.'' Sebastian chuckled, the teen’s shift in mood going unnoticed. He waved his hand, as if to dismiss the previous conversation topic. ''You know I only tease because I get such delightful reactions out of you.''

''Yes. Well, keep pestering me like that and you can clean your own tank.'' Ciel scoffed, sitting down on one of the barrels by Sebastian. Usually the deckhand rather enjoyed their little quips, but that last one hit a little too close to home. The teen crossed his arms and leaned back against the curved wood, impenetrable mask in place as he closed his one cerulean eye.

''Must you truly take everything I say to heart?'' Sebastian sighed, an amused smile coming onto his face as he watched the teen. His red eyes sparkled as they silently judged, waiting in the silence before breaking it ''Ciel...''

''Hm?'' Said teen didn't even open his eye.

''Do you think that you could-''

''I am not getting up to play my violin.'' Ciel cut Sebastian off, hazarding a guess as to what the merman wanted. Every night, Sebastian asked him to play, and now the teens fingers were beginning to bruise from the incessant playing.

Sebastian frowned at this before looking off to the side. ''I was not going to ask that.'' He said quietly.

''I'm not getting you more fish.'' Ciel said, still not opening his eye. 

''I was not going to ask that either.'' The teen peered a curious cerulean orb open and blinked at Sebastian's hesitant look.

''Do you think...'' Sebastian paused for a moment. ''You could come into my tank?''

Ciel paused as well, biting his own lower lip. ''...Why do you ask?''

''I am aware that you are not going to release me anytime soon.'' Ciel bit down harder. ''But I grow weary of being in here all by myself. I yearn for some companionship.''

''You have fish.'' Ciel pointed out, watching two left over tuna swim around in the tank. ''Besides, I talk to you on a regular basis. What more do you want?''

''Let me rephrase myself then.'' Sebastian sighed. ''I desire physical contact from something that I do not consider prey.'' He slapped a tuna away from himself for emphasis.

Ciel sighed and closed his eyes again, feeling the stare of red eyes. Guilt ran up within him again. He felt as if he couldn’t refuse the merman, and yet… ''I don't want to get in the tank with you.''

''You are lying.'' Sebastian was quick to say, causing Ciel to look at him. The merman had a completely serious look upon his face as he stared at the deckhand. ''I can sense it.'' Ciel stared into those gorgeous red eyes, tensioned silence of words unsaid passing between them before Ciel eventually relented.

''...Fine. I'll go up there, but I am not getting in.'' Ciel sighed and lazily took off his shoes and socks as Sebastian closed his eyes and smiled.

''Oh we shall see about that.'' The raven teased as Ciel left the stern to go and get the small step ladder from the storage area. Sebastian watched him go, heart beating fast. The raven had actually planned this a while ago but had been waiting for the right moment to ask. Now that he had, the merman couldn't be happier After all, the teen wasn't the only one having weird thoughts and dreams... In fact, these swirled thoughts have been buzzing around Sebastian’s head for at least two months now…

When the teen finally returned, it was without a shirt on, and then it was Sebastian's turn to flush slightly and look away. If Ciel saw it, he didn’t comment, as he climbed the ladder and opened the lock at the top of the tank. Sebastian twitched when the teen tossed the cage open, it’s heavy door clattering against the metal top.

Sebastian poked his head out of the water to smile at Ciel, who was looking at the liquid with a hesitant gaze. ''So...are you just going to stare all night or are you going to come in here?'' Sebastian teasingly swished the water, chuckling when Ciel backed up.

“You should be more than grateful that I even decided to grace you with my presence.'' Ciel huffed and sat down on the edge of the tank, commanding attitude in place. ''And don't you even DARE think about splashing me!''

''Well I can not help it if you give me ideas.'' Sebastian teased, but stopped his mischief. It wouldn't help him any to scare the teen off. ''I promise that I will not splash you. So please, come here.''

''I said that I am not going to.''

''Ah, but I know that you want to.'' Sebastian chuckled when Ciel frowned. ''You can not lie to me.''

Ciel hesitated before responding, ''Even if I do, which I DON'T,'' Sebastian smirked at this but Ciel ignored him. ''I still wouldn't.''

''Oh, and why not? Does my presence offend you that badly that you refuse to be in close proximity with me?'' Sebastian looked down in sadness, but his amused expression gave him away.

''No.'' To emphasize his point, Ciel hesitantly stuck his legs into the water.

''Then what is the problem?'' Sebastian asked, teasingly brushing the end of tail against the bottom of Ciel's feet. He laughed when the teen kicked it in response. ''You do know how to swim, don't you?'' The question was meant to poke fun, but when no response was given, the merman blinked in surprise. ''...Don't you?'' He asked gently and the teen looked back at him, fire in his one blue colored eye.

''No. I don't.'' Ciel suddenly spat. There was a silence between the two of them before Sebastian sunk back into the water and brought his index finger up to his mouth to stifle his laughter. When he came back up to the surface, Ciel was waiting with a death glare. ''Is there a problem with that?''

''It is just...why are you in the ocean if you can not swim?'' Sebastian asked, letting out one last chuckle before quieting down.

''I am on a ship. I don't need to swim.'' Ciel defended himself, crossing his arms. When Sebastian laughed quietly in response, the teen scoffed and moved to get up. 

Sebastian immediately saw this and grabbed onto Ciel's hand. Both of them froze at the sudden contact and their eyes locked. Sebastian hesitantly tugged on the teens arm gently and the deckhand tensed. ''Ciel, I apologize. I did not mean to upset you.'' The teen frowned and looked away in response. Sebastian clutched the other's hand tighter in his grasp. ''If I promise put an end to my teasing, will you come in here?''

Ciel looked at the merman down passed his nose like the rich snob that he thought he was. ''I told you that I can not swim.'' He scoffed.

''Then I will teach you.'' Sebastian offered and Ciel blinked when the merman him go. ''I have lived my whole life in water. What better teacher could you possibly have?''

''I suppose you do have a point.'' Ciel brought a finger up to his chin, the sea wind pulling at his hair as he contemplated. ''But then again I don't have a tail.'' 

''At least let me try.'' Sebastian said, lifting himself up out of the water as high as he could to be close to the teenager. ''Please.''

Ciel rolled his eyes and sighed as he dipped his legs back into the cold water, once again giving in to the merman. ''...Fine.'' He relented, even he being able to deny his own desire to be close to the merman. He grabbed onto the edge of the tank and started lowering himself down further into the water. ''But you better not laugh or splash at me or you can get your own fish from now on.'' He threatened, shivering as the cold water touched his naked chest.

Sebastian in the meantime, kept his distance and tongue to himself as Ciel entered the water. When the teen was chest-deep in water, he clung to the side of the tank like a life line, which Sebastian found to be extremely amusing. He didn't chuckle, however.

''So now what?'' Ciel asked with a harsher tone than was probably necessary. He was cold, and it had been well over a decade since he had been in water this deep, the last time being when he was only four. He and his family had gone to his aunt Angelina's house and Ciel had fallen off her deck into the lake while playing with his cousin, Lizzy. He had almost drowned that day in the icy Christmas waters, and even though his father quickly rescued him, trauma had already set it. He hadn’t been swimming ever since.

Ciel shivered again when Sebastian came close. The teen could smell the other male, an unexpected mixture of sea salt and something that he had never encountered before. But that just made the aroma all the more special, because this was Sebastian's.

''Give me your hands.'' Sebastian said softly and Ciel looked at the merman for a few moments before obeying. The merman pulled Ciel off of the wall towards him, placing his hands under the teenager's arms. Ciel grabbed onto the raven's upper arms as they went, feeling Sebastian's strong muscles while simultaneously trying to commit this moment to memory.

''Are you alright so far?'' Sebastian asked quietly, stopping them in the middle of the tank. Ciel's skin felt a lot different from his, softer and less smooth. He tightened his grip on the boy slightly.

''I'm fine.'' The teen said begrudgingly, feeling the tips of his ears flush.

''Okay.'' Sebastian smiled, moving Ciel into an appropriate position to start his lesson. ''Then let us begin.''

 

As it turned out, Ciel actually remembered more about swimming than he originally thought as his mind never truly forgot how to swim. In fact, after a good hour swimming with Sebastian, the teen required no assitance...except when going under water. No matter his technique, he always ended up coughing. But other than that, Sebastian gave him his blessing as a certified basic swimmer. The merman could go further with his lessons, but they were pressed for time right now because it was almost that hour when the teen disappeared downstairs to get some rest.

''Excellent Ciel.'' Sebastian clapped his hands once and smile. ''You are a natural.'' He said, almost sad that the deckhand wouldn't be clinging to him for support anymore...

''That wasn't what you said earlier'' Ciel huffed, pushing his wet bangs out of his face. He grimaced when he felt the slimy fabric of his soaked eye patch. 

Sebastian saw the black piece of fabric show itself from behind the boy's bangs and swam over to Ciel, a sudden urge overcoming him. The deckhand raised an eyebrow at the approach but otherwise didn't protes. ''What is it?'' Ciel asked, blinking when Sebastian hesitantly reached out toward him.

Ciel tensed when he felt Sebastian reach behind him and pull at the string to his eye patch, remembering first dream he had of them together. He let Sebastian pull the patch off, and slowly opened his right eye to look at the merman fully. He could feel its fabric run down his leg as it sunk to the bottom.

Silence fell upon them as Sebastian traced a finger slowly under Ciel's newly exposed eye, causing a shiver to travel up the human's spine. Ciel grabbed the raven's wrist in his hand suddenly, stopping the movement. Sebastian opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out. The raven didn't even know himself why he was acting this way.

Ciel could feel Sebastian's erratic heart beat from the pulse on the merman's wrist and the teen swallowed when he realized that his heart was going just as crazy. ''...I apologize.'' Sebastian finally said, reluctantly tugging on his wrist and moving to leave the teen's personal space.

Confliction shown on Ciel’s face as he held onto Sebastian's wrist tighter and pulled the merman against his chest. Blue eyes stared into red as if they held all the answers, before Ciel moved. Becoming weak to the moment, the human wrapped an arm around Sebastian's waist and grabbed the back of his head, forcing their lips to come together in a tender kiss.

Sebastian's wine-red colored eyes widened as he felt Ciel move his lips against his, gently trying to coax the raven to do the same. The merman’s expression shifted in confusion before the raven hesitantly slipped an arm around the teen's chest and tangled his other hand into wet hair. He moved his lips slowly against Ciel's, mimicking the teen’s movements. He felt the arm around his waist tighten and Sebastian groaned at the feeling.

Ciel rubbed his thumb over Sebastian's hip in slow circles, his fingers brushing up against the merman's silver scales with no hesitation. He felt as if he should be in heaven, but be damned all the same. He would live with it, if only he could keep this memory. The teen cupped the side of the raven's face with his other hand as he ran his tongue over the merman's bottom lip, silently asking for permission to enter.

Sebastian slowly allowed himself to be coaxed into opening his mouth, this being a new experience for him, but not an unpleasant one. He heard Ciel moan when their tongues finally met with each other and the merman pulled at the other's hair wanting to hear it again.

But all too soon, the two had to pull away, leaving one of them panting for air. The teen rested his forehead upon Sebastian's shoulder, heart beating wildly as he came to realize his actions. He kissed Sebastian. He kissed Sebastian, and the merman liked it, if the way he was now stroking Ciel's hair was any clue. The deckhand could practically hear his conscience screaming at him, but he would deal with those thoughts later, when the merman wasn't stroking the side of his leg with his silver tail.

Ciel shivered and moved to pull Sebastian in for another kiss, when his eyes caught sight of the clock hanging just above the tank. He sighed, wrapping both arms around the raven's waist now and hugging him tightly. He was supposed to have gone downstairs and wake Claude up half an hour ago.

Sebastian noticed the teen’s sudden change and followed his gaze up to the clock, remembering that when it looked like that, it was time for Ciel to go and for someone else to take his place. The merman sighed as well.

''I got to go.'' Ciel said after a while before releasing the merman with great hesitance.

Sebastian said nothing as he reluctantly let him go, watching him lock the top of the tank with a somber expression.

Ciel climbed down the ladder and suddenly pressed his right hand flat against the tank. Sebastian raised an eyebrow at this and placed his hands up against the glass, mirroring the action. ''Sebastian...'' The teen started hesitantly. ''I apologize for-''

''Don't.'' Sebastian cut him off, his signature smirk in place. ''I rather enjoyed it.'' He said and Ciel smiled at him softly in response.

''I'll see you tomorrow.'' 

''I will be here.'' Sebastian said, letting his hand slide down the glass slowly.

''I know...'' Ciel said, sighing as he turned to leave with the ladder in hand. ''That's what bothers me...''

 

The next day had Sebastian in a much better mood. Ciel had actually forgotten his eye patch last night and the merman had spent the better part of the morning playing with the dark fabric before the teen demanded that he give it back.

Sebastian sighed as he watched the teen wring out his patch. ''You ruin all my fun.'' He said, already missing the feel of the fabric. ''Why must you be such a stick in the sand?''

''I wasn't a 'stick in the sand' last night.'' Ciel shot back, smirking when Sebastian paused. The teen put his eye patch down to dry in the sun and then stretched his arms over his head. He hadn't gotten any sleep last night, his thoughts a little too…preoccupied.

The merman crossed his arms and looked away. ''Yes well...I suppose that you weren't.'' He mumbled softly but Ciel heard him and walked closer to the tank so that they were face to face.

The two smiled softly at each other and Ciel was about to say something, reaching toward the glass, when Meyrin ran past them both with a determined gait. Her unusually graceful steps made him pause, his eyes widening.

''What's the matter?” Sebastian asked as Grell and Agni ran past as well, all three of them heading for the storage room.

Ciel didn’t have to answer. ''Whale! Off the port bow!'' Meyrin yelled stiffly, handing harpoons to the other whalers as Ash and Undertaker made their way to where she was.

'Oh no...' Ciel suddenly thought to himself, turning his eyes to Sebastian, who was watching the chaos with a confused gaze.

''Oh yes!'' Grell swooned as he put a hand to his forehead, watching the far off whale spout water from his blow hole. ''I have been dying to test out this puppy!'' He said triumphantly, twirling his all red harpoon in the air.

''Hee Hee you shall have to wait, I wager.'' Undertaker said from behind him, that creepy smile on his face. ''I call first blood.''

''Stop fighting and let us board the boats.'' Ash commanded, taking lead of the situation. ''We have a job to do, people!''

'Ciel...' Said teen tore his eyes away from the whaler's preparing for battle to look at Sebastian, who was frowning. He communicated to the deckhand telepathically so as not to draw attention, though it probably wouldn't have mattered at this point. Everyone on board was in a frenzy. 'What is going on?'

Ciel hesitated to answer...

 

~Random Short~ (Inspired by 'Can I have Your Numba' from MadTV)

Sebastian sighed to himself as he watched the kittens play in their cage through a window at Petco. Cats really are wonderful creatures. He stood straight and checked his pocket watch to find that he had just enough time to purchase his master's cake before heading back to the mansion.

''Oh My!~''

Sebastian blinked at the random exclamation from someone and turned around. He lifted an eyebrow when he saw no one before shrugging and heading off to the bakery.

''Ooooohh Mmyyyy!!~ What a goooorrrggeeeouuuss maaaann!~''

Sebastian looked behind him and finally caught a glimpse of a red headed figure riding a hobby horse in the playground down on the other side of the street. He quickly looked away and kept on walking.

''Okay...Okay...''

Sebastian sighed when he heard the annoying voice fade. He had nearly made it to the bakery when said redhead popped out of nowhere next to him, causing the butler to let out an unmanly yelp in surprise.

''Hello Bassy~!'' Grell beamed, grabbing onto the butler's arm. ''Can I talk with you for a minute?''

''No.'' Sebastian said and took his arm out of the reaper's grip. He sighed when Grell just clung to his side instead.

''I just wanted to let you know Se-bast-ian.'' He emphasized the syllables of the raven's name with pokes to his side. ''That your ass is redicalous.'' Sebastian looked down at the redhead with a disgusted look upon his face. ''I could roast marshmallows on that sweet booty!~''

Sebastian shivered and ripped away before Grell could grope him on that particular part of his body. ''Uh...thank you?'' He said, not really knowing what else to say in this situation.

''You are most welcome Bassy!~'' Grell said and then disappeared as fast as he had shown up.

''...Whatever.'' Sebastian dismissed before heading over to the bakery. The display cakes in the windows were at a lower level than what he could see properly so he bent over slightly to get a better view.

The demon nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt someone press their front against his raised behind.

''So where's your boyfriend, Sebby?'' Grell asked, smiling sweetly at Sebastian, who jerked away from him.

''I...who?'' Sebastian asked, placing a hand to his racing heart. How the hell did he do that??

''You know, your boyfriend. Your master. Your little twat? Where your master at? Is he getting you refreshments? Is he getting you guys comdams? Does he like to be protected? Does it feel better for the both of you if you are protectad? Is he getting snickers? Oh you like snickers? Is he coming back? Where your master at?''

''First of all my master is not my boyfriend.'' Sebastian said, overwhelmed with all the questions.

''Oh he isn't? Oh alright that's cool.'' Grell said before Sebastian could answer any more of his questions. ''So listen.'' Sebastian frowned when the redhead invaded his personal space. Grell licked his lips, making crazy eyes at the demon. ''Can I have your numbah, Bassy? Can I have it? Can you give me the secret code that would be considered your gorgeous ass number?'' He pleaded, moving ever closer to the demon.

“Ahem.” The two turned to the intruding voice to find Ciel standing there carrying Pluto’s leash. 

“Oh hey buttmunch. How about you move along, I’ve busy mackin on this fine piece of-Hey!” When Grell turned to look back at Sebastian, he was gone. He gasped, “My hunky babe!” 

“I’ve had enough of this. Pluto. Sick em.” The giant animal lifted it’s head in excitement as Ciel said this. The master let his leash go and he bounded forward after the red reaper. Grell screamed as he ran, beautiful tears running down his face as Pluto bit his wig off.

Ciel couldn’t help but chuckle as he watched them go. He turned to the side as he felt Sebastian come to stand next to him. “So, that was-“ He started to tease but Sebastian cut him off.

“We will never speak of this again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, yea I know it’s been a while but I just moved and started school, so yea it’s been a bit crazy but things have slowed down now so I figured that I would work on this some more. As always, since I am in school I can’t guarantee that the next update will be soon, but I am trying my best.  
> For those waiting for A Daughter’s Yearning, I will begin working on that again soon, and hopefully have it out not too far in the future. Thanks everyone for all the love and the reviews and I hope that you enjoyed! Ja ne!
> 
> ~Migoto Nami

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! So this is the revised version of my fic under the same name that is posted on fanfiction.net. I decided to revise this fic to give myself some content on this new account and also to remind myself of just how far I've come as a writer by going back and revamping my works.  
> As such, any feedback will be greatly appreciated and feel free to message me with any questions or comments. As always, I hope you enjoyed! Ja ne!
> 
> ~Migoto Nami


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